IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Shakespeare Road, SALISBURY, SP1 3LA

Towards Salisbury.

Spotted outside the changing hut on Image was this solitary rabbit trying to keep the pitch nicely trimmed, up to this Summer Salisbury District Council employed several rabbits to keep the grass down. However, due to budget cuts, all but one have been made redundant- and it's really struggling to keep up.

On Stratford Road.

This path and cycleway runs from Salisbury city centre to Stratford sub Castle, it is also part of National Cycle Network route 45- the Golden Way. The gate on the left is the entrance to some council owned allotments.

Tucked behind the village of Stratford-sub-Castle and below the ramparts of Old Sarum is this football pitch owned by Salisbury District Council.

A little oddly, this is a public footpath followed by NCN cyclepath 45, but it has obviously been designated as "dual use". NCN45 takes a prodigious cross-country route from Chester to Salisbury. Here it passes a paddock as it approaches Stratford Road. The houses are on Castle Keep (the name of a modern close).

This lovely butterfly was sunning itself amongst the leaf litter on the edge of the path from Stratford sub Castle to Salisbury. The Speckled Wood butterfly (Pararge aegeria) is very common across Britain and Europe. Its preferred habitats are woodland edges and rides, or anywhere with plenty of shade. They fly from March to October and usually produce a single batch of eggs in the north of Britain with up to three broods further south. They like to feed mainly on honeydew, a secretion produced by aphids that feed on tree sap, but they will also drink nectar from the blossoms of brambles and will often visit ragwort later on in the year. It is thought that the Speckled Wood population is on the increase in Britain with new forestry plantations coming to maturity and producing the shade that these butterflies require.