Back to the Rings

Yesterday we took Charles and Rose to Badbury Rings. They weren't up for the 7 mile trek that we did earlier in the week so we did a much shorter walk taking in our favourite bits.

We parked near Blandford Lodge and after crossing the Blandford Road walked passed Lodge Farm to the butterfly fields. If you walk this way look back and to the left just after the gate to catch a glimpse of the farmhouse, a 14th century hunting lodge, over the hedge. Having reminded myself of how to shoot video on my camera I managed to get several seconds of half decent video of the butterflies this time. Click below to view it.

After spending some time watching the butterflies we walked upto Badbury Rings and walked around the innermost ring. Note that if you come this way the monument itself is a dog free area. The weather forecast had got it wrong and it was a lovely afternoon. There was a refreshing breeze and the sheep were happier to do their work of keeping the weeds down. We had good views all around and took some delight in watching a boy with his father flying a kite. The kite had a long blue tail and their chocolate labrador was having great fun trying to catch it.

From the Rings we retraced our steps to the Blandford Road.

Badbury Rings & Kingston Lacy

After breakfast we drove to Badbuy Rings for a walk around the Kingston Lacy Estate. We followed the route given in the Pathfinder guide for Dorset. It was hot even at 9.30am and it got hotter and stickier as the morning wore on.

The Bridleway has been diverted around The Oaks but it's easy enough to get back on the route. After The Oaks the walk is along long, straight gravel or tarmac lanes with high hedges. But every now and then there are sweeping views of the Dorset countryside to relieve the monotony. The highlight for us in this section of the walk was seeing a deer in a field of linseed as we followed the Stour Valley Way. After crossing the Blandford Road the walking was on grass tracks along the side of fields. Here there were hundreds of butterlies in the hedgerows and along side the field margins. Most numerous were Marbled Whites. I also captured a Ringlet on camera. At times it appeared as though the hedges themselves were moving!

The walk ended by passing through Badbury Rings themselves. We didn't see any orchids as the National Trust are grazing sheep on the rings to control weeds (14 species of orchids have been recorded here). The sheep seemed more interested in keeping cool than working.