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After last year's successful breeding by ravens at The Lodge, we have been eagerly awaiting to see if they would breed here again this year. Today, 3 young ravens have been seen around the hillfort, with their parents noisily and actively watching over them. Excellent news! A pair of hobbies have...

Having just returned from a week in the West Country, where torrential rain and gale force winds battered the area, I returned on the train on Sunday and watched as the fields turned from miles of flooded land to a landscape of frozen winter white countryside. The first sight I had at The Lodge this...

Great to see at least five bramblings, with the siskins and redpolls around the gatehouse feeders this morning. Yesterday we didn't see one at all, so it seems that the flock is fairly transient with new birds joining all the time and others leaving. I'm away next week, so it's unlikely they'll...

With winter still in the air the mixed flock of finches is still keeping us and our visitors and photographers well entertained. The cacophany of finch song greeted me this morning and good numbers of siskins and redpolls were still around and feeding on and under the feeders. The weather looks pretty...

With winter still in the air the mixed flock of finches is still keeping us and our visitors and photographers well entertained. The cacophany of finch song greeted me this morning and good numbers of siskins and redpolls were still around and feeding on and under the feeders. The weather looks pretty...

We get lots of fantastic bird images taken on the reserve, but It's always nice to get a picture of something we don't see so often. This picture of a cute bank vole, craftily taking advantage of the extra food we have been suppling the finch flock at the Gatehouse feeders ,was photographed by...

The woodlark was sighted on the old heath this morning, so it's still on the reserve, which is great news. I heard a tawny owl hooting almost spot on mid-day, between the HQ car park and the Quarry Trail and there's good numbers of siskins flying overhead. A grey heron was disturbed by a jogger...

One of the heathland birds that we feel should be a regular at The Lodge turned up today, for a rare visit! The bird was seen on the old heath this morning, and for a lot of the RSPB staff here, was the first time they have been able to add this species to their Lodge reserve lists. Our Tuesday volunteer...

They've been our friends and close neighbours for the last six years, but it's the end of an era today as we say a sad farewell to our 52 Manx loghtan sheep! They came here to get our new heath and grassland into shape, but with the heather doing so well now we feel the time is right for them...

Although there is a touch of autumn in the air now,our family of hobbies are still around and visitors this week have had brilliant sightings of the two juveniles being fed by their parents.Photographer Keith Clarke Lambourne captured this superb shot of one of the juveniles -thanks Keith!

Our Tuesday morning walkers group came back excited today as they had spotted a wheatear on Sandy Ridge. I popped over with one of our volunteers, James Clark and we managed to see this smart migrant. James even managed to get this excellent shot on his camera. Wheatears are now returning to their wintering...

We have a group from the Beds,Bucks and Oxon Wildlife Trust on a visit to The Lodge today. I took them for a wander over the new heath to show off our heather, which is looking amazing this year. After leaving them to complete the trail, they came back happy after seeing hobbies, ravens and buzzards...

It seemed over the last few days that we only had one adult feeding the young flycatchers in the nest box! A single bird had been very busy, taking in insects to three young, feeding itself,and fending off an aggressive local robin.The other parent had disapeared completely.....what had happened to it...

Visitors come from many parts of the UK to see The Lodge, but not normally for a day visit from Scotland! Yesterday, RSPB members Violet and Nicky caught the plane from Edingburgh to Luton, hired a car to drive to Sandy and spent the day enjoying the reserve- and the lovely sunshine- for Violet's...

The weather is set fair for our 'All Nature Bio Blitz Day' tomorrow, it sounds like it will be sunny, warm and dry...a rare thing this summer! We've got experts from various fields coming along to show us what's around on the reserve, last year The Lodge was the third highest species...

After the depressing wash-out yesterday, the reserve is looking a lot brighter today and the car -park is full again with visitors getting out and about. Spotted flycatcher's, young ravens, cuckoo and treecreeper have all been sighted today, but most people just seem pleased to be walking around...

It was certainly a day to stay indoors in the dry yesterday wasn't it? Although it was understandably very quiet at The Lodge, one brave birder did report seeing seven wheatears on Sandy Ridge. It's a world away from the wet and windy conditions today and the birds have been notching up. We started...

I've been away for a few days on some unplanned time off, so it's great to be back to see the reserve looking fresh, vibrant and green, with the first bluebells now appearing as well. The birds are slowly arriving as well, blackcaps, willow warblers, wheatears, swallows, sand martins and house...

This week has seen the temperature change from -14 degrees on Saturday 11 to + 13 yesterday, quite a big change in just a few days. it seems to have had little effect on the birds however, with no new arrivals reported over the week. On Sandy Ridge, the flock of fieldfares, redwings and starlings moved...

Did you take part in the RSPB's BIg Garden Birdwatch ove the weekend? Did you record the numbers of birds you would normally expect to see? This is a section of the press release that the RSPB issued,in response to the many people asking us where the garden birds have gone this year; Big Garden...

I took a walk around the reserve yesterday and it was hard to think we are still in January. Great tits, robins, goldcrests and even a mistle thrush were singing, the snowdrops are coming up and it felt just too mild for a winters day. I noticed that the temperature at 8pm last night was around 10 degrees...

The reserve was exceptionally busy yesterday; bright blue skies and sunshine all the way, although it was blustery and colder than of late. Our bird sightings have been fairly consistent over the Christmas and New Year period. The large flock of around 500 Fieldfares are still feeding on the meadow on...

After a really busy day at The Lodge yesterday, we are lighting the bonfire and preparing for this afternoon's Winter Wonderland walk. It's very mild and quite bright today, so not quite the perfect setting for the winter walk, but I'm sure it will be great;it's already fully booked and...

It felt a bit more like Christmas today didn't it ? A good dusting of snow fell this morning, although most of it has disapeared now. I walked around to feed the birds and many of the feeders were completely empty, so the cold weather has attracted lots of birds to feed on them. A large flock of...

Phew...it was a a really busy weekend at The Lodge and we are just getting our breath back! Over 2,800 visitors came to the reserve to visit the Christmas Fayre, enjoy the trails and spot some good birds in mostly sunny conditions. The osprey was seen on both days, on one occcasion directly over the...