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After a weekend of sun and with even a little warmth in the air , a few things 'spring like' finally appeared in the area. On a walk around the Cambridgeshire countryside yesterday, I heard 5 chiffchaffs proclaiming their late arrival and a sulphur yellow brimstone butterfly flitted across the...

Just a whisper....I think spring is in the air at last! We've had two days of almost unbroken sunshine and its arrived just in time for the children and youngsters to come up and enjoy being outdoors in their school holidays. After the success of the weekends Easter Trail, I decided to leave the...

Our warden Andy has been out and about on the reserve today and he says there are birds everywhere! A woodlark has been spotted on the new heath yesterday and today, which is one of the key species we are hoping to attract with the heathland restoration. Fingers crossed they decide to stay and breed...

With autumn now definitely on its way it is a beautiful time of year to visit The Lodge. As the nights draw in and the days get colder the trees begin to turn their fantastic autumn colours. The first of the striking fly agaric fungi shows its head and over the next few days and weeks there will be more...

When an osprey was reported to us well over a week ago, we were quite amazed, but this juvenile is still being seen on a regular basis.even though we are now into November! It seems to use the trees around the hillfort on the reserve to perch in, making sorties down to the local fishing lakes where it...

There have been a lot of really good bird sightings here today, topped by an osprey seen with a fish, flying over the hillfort. It was seen again over the gatehouse late afternoon. At least 20 crossbills have flown over with several lingering and the 6 woodlarks have again been around the new heath,...

Our warden, Andy Schofield, heard a woodlark on Sandy Ridge this morning. We had another report of one on land opposite the reserve entrance yesterday. A small flock of crossbills have been heard flying around, but they are rarely seen.Let's hope they stay and start to use the ponds near the hide...

Crossbills have been heard flying over on two occasions this weekend;it's been a few months since the large flock that roamed around the reserve was last seen, hopefully they will stay around as visitors love to see them.Spotted flycatcher families have also been seen in the woodland and on the bird...

As we headed off for our 'birds for beginners. walk we saw a flock of arond 50 crossbils on the new heath. What a start! After a good stroll, we had cracking views of an adult tawny owl staring down at us from one of the large conifers near the hide. It was my 4th bird survey this morning...

Lots of green tiger beetles around today, a heathland speciality. They can be seen anywhere around the heathland trails and even in the car park! A flock of common crossbills flew from the hillfort towards the main house. The bluebells are starting to emerge now, the sunshine should bring...

Lots of green tiger beetles around today, a heathland speciality. They can be seen anywhere around the heathland trails and even in the car park! A flock of common crossbills flew from the hillfort towards the main house. The bluebells are starting to emerge now, the sunshine should bring...

What a great morning to be around the reserve! It was definitley worth the 5:20 alarm call this morning to arrive with the sun shining, not a cloud in the sky and birds singing everywhere. I came early to do our third bird survey ,with Juliette, one of our volunteers. We saw a flock of 17 crossbills...

One of our volunteers, Ben Andrew, saw a woodlark on the old heath on Sunday 18th.After some sightings in early April we have not had any further reports for over a week, so nice to know we have one around. Ben also found a common lizard and a woodmouse and managed to show these to other visitors...

A ring ouzel was seen on Tuesday 13, on the stubble field opposite the gatehouse, amongst a small flock of Fieldfares. The flock of common crossbills was seen around the new heath.

Exciting times here at The Lodge - a two-barred crossbill was found on Saturday afternoon. The fantastic photo above was taken by Mike Lawrence . We've got quite a lot of [common] crossbills here at the moment, probably moving through on migration back north. But on Saturday someone snapped photos...

Sorry for the absence of recent updates. Normal service will now be resumed... The good news is that it's currently a great time to see crossbills at The Lodge! For some reason (perhaps a dry diet or beaks sticky with pine resin), crossbills need to drink fairly regularly. They've been seen...