Morgan's Hill

Morgan's Hill is a chalk grassland nature reserve and a Site of Special Scientific Interest, managed by the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust. It lies just outside Calne and includes a stretch of the Wansdyke path. I went up there on a guided walk led by Nick Self from the WWT, who is responsible for the management of the reserve. He had kindly given up his free time to talk to members of the Calne Wildlife Group, who primarily share their wildlife photographs of the area on Facebook and many were meeting face to face for the first time.

In this view from the hill, the familiar sight of the Lansdowne Monument at Cherhill can be seen on the horizon.

It was a hot summer's day and butterflies abounded. The area is home to many species, including many I was unfamiliar with, including adonis blues and duke of burgundy butterflies (though we didn't see any of the latter on the day) and I learned a lot about their habitats and how they are helped to prosper. The area is famous for its wild orchids, including common spotted orchids, pyramidal orchids, bee orchids and fly orchids, and they were all over the reserve.

The walk was accompanied by a gentle frog-like croaking sound emanating from a pair of mobile telephone wireless masts on the hill, and this transpired to be from a family of ravens nesting there.

The name derives from a piece of local history I had researched for a different project in 2001:

"The name Morgan’s Hill can be precisely dated to originate only in 1720. At this time a gentleman discovering a theft of money, made it known that he would make it his business to find the culprit and hand him over to the law. He may have suspected already that the thief was his own nephew, John Morgan. If this was the case, it was perhaps foolhardy of him to agree with Morgan’s disingenuous suggestion that he should accompany him on an otherwise lone walk along the Wansdyke. Predictably, when they reached Blackland Copse, Morgan, having confirmed that his own status as nephew would not obtain kinder treatment from his uncle, cut his throat.

"Hastening to Losemore Bottom, he washed away the blood of his victim from his person, and then made on to a lime kiln on Calstone Hill to dry himself. However, as seemingly with all villainy, he obligingly left behind the vital clue that was his undoing - the murder weapon, a jack knife.

"John King, the kiln owner, found this the next day, and recognised the knife. Unfortunately for Morgan he was able to identify its owner, and after the due process of law, he was sentenced to death. He was taken on 24 August 1720 to the most prominent of knolls on Runway Hill, as it was then known, within sight of his last crime, and there hung."

At that time I had been looking into its mythical and Arthurian connections, all tied up with henges, barrows and ley lines, and later posted up an archive blip with a photograph taken in 2001.

L.
6.7.2013 (1150 hr)

Blip #1311
Consecutive Blip #173
Day #1550

Alternatives:
View From Morgan's Hill
Bench Seat View
Poppies And Grasses
Thistles

A Guided Walk On Morgan's Hill, 22 June 2014 (Flickr album)

Lenses: Pentax 17-70 mm, Pentax 35 mm Macro, Pentax 55-300 x1.4 rear converter

Morgan's Hill (Wikipedia page)

I posted this prematurely for the previous day and have now amended that entry:
Lozarhythm Of The Day:
Al Green - Take Me To The River (1974)
R.I.P. Teenie Hodges (16 November 1945, Germantown TN – 22 June 2014, Dallas TX)
"The original version was recorded by Al Green as a track on his 1974 album, Al Green Explores Your Mind, produced by Willie Mitchell and featuring musicians Charles, Leroy and Mabon Hodges (The Hodges Brothers), drummer Howard Grimes, and the Memphis Horns. Green and Mabon Hodges wrote the song while staying in a rented house at Lake Hamilton, Arkansas, for three days in 1973 in order to come up with new material. According to Mitchell, Green wrote the words and Green and Hodges wrote the tune together." - Wikipedia
"Mabon Lewis 'Teenie' Hodges (November 16, 1945 – June 22, 2014) was an American musician known for his work as a rhythm and lead guitarist and songwriter on many of Al Green's soul hits, and those of other artists such as Ann Peebles and Syl Johnson, on Hi Records in the 1970s. His credits as a songwriter include Take Me To The River, Love And Happiness, L-O-V-E (Love), and Here I Am (Come and Take Me)". - Wikipedia