You may recall a few weeks ago I shared a couple of photographs of the Hampshire countryside. MrB and I had gone out for a walk at Danebury, a hill fort a few miles from Winchester, only to discover everyone else was doing exactly the same. It has never appealed to us walking with dozens of others, and so we decided to explore part of an old riding haunt of his instead.

Restricted Byway

It was a hot morning when we set out, and the butterflies were loving it. There was one plant in particular they seemed to love. We didn’t see all 46 species of butterflies to be found in Hampshire, but we spotted around a dozen. I even managed to photograph one or two of them. You will discover their names by clicking on the gallery.

Butterflies were not the only delight. Despite being surrounded by agricultural land, which didn’t look organically farmed, there were goldfinches, linnets, chaffinches and numerous insects. There was also a rather unusual red hairy growth on a dog rose.

I later discovered the growth is called Robin’s pincushion. Isn’t that a great name! Also called mossy rose gall, this growth is caused by the larvae of a tiny gall wasp, Dipoloepis rosae. The internal part of the gall contains a number of chambers in which the larvae develop. Neither the larvae nor the growth have much impact on the host plant, but what I really want to know is do Robins use it?!

You though are probably wondering about my title! This is a Six Word Saturday, and my title alludes to the type of path we were on. It is a restricted byway which means it is a public road, but we are restricted to travelling by foot, by bike, by horses and by carriage. Anything in fact apart from mechanically propelled vehicles.

PS If anyone knows what the plant is in my header and also what the Red Admirals are on please do let me know!

66 thoughts

  1. It is reassuring to see all your butterflies. We have a strip of wldflowers that I’ve been walking through regularly and I recently realised they seem to have remarkably few insects on them. I can’t imagine it has been treated with anything, but it does make you wonder.

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    1. Reassured us too . . . and yes I think there must be treating going on somewhere. If not on the strip, then where they usually lay their eggs

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  3. You saw a lot of different butterflies. Is it chalk around there? I only have white’s and red admirals although I did see a small tortoiseshell just now (no camera) and a peacock in the garden we visited today.

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  4. One of the great things about Britain is the options available for walking. There are so many public paths of one kind or another. I once camped along the South Downs Way and hadn’t realized that vehicles were allowed on the stretch I was on. I was happy to survive the night! Love the butterfly photos, and what a great selection.

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    1. I know some of our ‘paths’ are not quite what they seem! Glad you survived the night, the South Downs is lovely – whereabouts where you?

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      1. I hiked the full trail, west to east. This was a good few years ago mind. I wouldn’t be doing that today. It’s a really nice hike though with lots of great views.

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      3. Back when I hiked the trail, it was a bit shorter. It started near Buriton I think. I was living in Portsmouth back then. However, I’ve been to Winchester lots of times, though it’s more than 10 years since I’ve been in England.

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  9. Glad you found a lovely slice of countryside that afforded you some distance from other people. And those peacock butterflies are such beauties. We don’t have them here in Maine.

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    1. Thanks Jo, and sorry I had to dash away from the chat this afternoon. The feedback suddenly became unbearable. Really odd, not had that with zoom before 😦

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      1. No worries. I’ve had that before. Seems I can have sound or vision but not a successful combination of both. I turned video off and had fun at Sue’s expense. I am awful! 🤣🤣

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  16. A lovely walk, Becky, and great photos. You did well to get all those butterflies. And the long views and sky shots are beautiful.
    I can see why everyone was out for a walk that day!

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  18. When you’ve found out what the red admirals are on, you can tell me. This plant is common here too, and I’ve never remembered to check it out. What a lovely post, celebrating all that’s best in a quiet country walk.

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    2. Hemp agrimony I think also known as Eupatorium cannabinum – I have some in my garden. In fact I have a lot of native plants/weeds in my garden! It does seem to be a favourite of Red Admirals.

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