Hanging On

My first holiday of the year coincided with the first week of COVID-19 lockdown, though fortunately I had nothing booked other than a trip to a local bird sanctuary. So at the start of this second week of leave, with restrictions easing, I was so pleased to be able to grab a seemingly rare ticket to the National Trust's Mottisfont Abbey and a visit to the famous Rose Garden.  My visit did not disappoint, and I only wish I could convey the wonderful smells of the old fashioned roses and lavender over the internet!

In the afternoon I took the opportunity to visit other local NT countryside sites for views of Salisbury across the Salisbury Plains.  I ended the day at one of my favourite quick stop-off sites, Figsbury Rings, a Neolitic enclosure or henge inside a later Iron Age hill fort.  Today it was brimming with butterflies, wild orchids and other meadow flowers.  It was a bit too breezy for really sharp shots, but I rather liked this one of, I think, a Marbled White clinging to a thistle head swaying in the wind.