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I did some bird surveying in the good weather last week. It involved me standing at certain points, and noting what birds and how many I could hear. All to assess our woodland for birds. It's one of the nicest things I get to do, though it's not easy! At last, there are some migrants! I heard...

Hurray- at last- a chiffchaff has arrived and it greeted me with its welcome and constant 'chiffchaff' call from the New Heath when I arrived at The Lodge this morning.This is the first confirmed report as far as I'm aware and its at least three weeks later than the usual arrival dates! It's...

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...

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...

On Saturday afternoon the second family of spotted flycatchers popped out of the nest box that has been their home over the last few weeks.They spent the afternoon in the trees around the back lawn of the Gatehouse , calling and being fed by their parents.On Sunday they appeared to have moved away from...

Although the breeding season is nearly at an end for most birds, we still have some exciting nesting activity going on at The Lodge. The spotted flycatchers are constantly on the nest on outbuildings beside the Gatehouse, after already raising four young here just a couple of weeks back.It's a race...

With all the fun of the Spring Fair now over, my binoculars are back in hand and I've even managed a couple of walks out on the reserve this week. Summer really began yesterday and the reserve looked glorious with trees and flowers in full bloom and the whole place looked radiant in the warm sunshine...

Just recovering after a 4:30 am start from home for today's Dawn Chorus! We had a good, calm and settled morning, although a bit nippy in the N/NE wind. We were greeted in the near dark by a calling tawny owl, then the very vocal cuckoo's seemed to follow us around as we headed along the trails...

Spring migrant birds arriving The Lodge. The birds seem to be arriving here quickly after the slow migration over the last few weeks.The cuckoo's have been calling all day on the new heath and I heard my first garden warbler today. A few whitethroats have turned up on the reserve and a couple of...

We made up for the dry February and March with a full day of heavy rain deluging us yesterday,with some sleet and snow mixed in. Fortunately Saturday was a much nicer day and we had some good bird sightings; 2 red kites, at least 3 buzzards in the air being mobbed by ravens,crossbills drinking at the...

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...

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...

It seems the osprey may still be in the area, we have heard from Steve Blain the Beds County Recorder that it was reported flying towards the reserve on two occasions on Sunday the 6th and it ( must be the same bird surely!) was spotted at Grafham Water on the 8th, so it's still happy hanging out...

It seems that the juvenile osprey has now decided to continue its migration as we haven't had any reports since the 4th November.This is the latest date for an osprey to be seen in Bedfordshire;the previous record was at Southill Park on 28 th October 1976 where up to four had been seen during the...

Our feed The Birds event this weekend was a massive success and really drew in the crowds, the site was exceptionally busy all weekend and it was a fantastic weekend. On top of this, we had a fire at the back of Sandy Ridge on Sunday and six fire engines attended to deal with it.We had some great birds...

Our warden, Andy Schofield, found a pied flycatcher on his walk down the drive at lunchtime today. It was amongst a roving flock of tits, so could be mobile. A good , late record for The Lodge.If you come along for a look for it, it will be in it's browny taupe plumage, not the bold black and white...

After a quiet couple of weeks,more birds have been in evidence over the last couple of days. A massive flock of over 90 mistle thrushes has been flying into trees around the Gatehouse from nearby Sandy Ridge.This is a record count of these large thrushes at The Lodge-and quite possibly a Bedfordshire...

A scarce chaser dragonfly was recorded and photographed by Dave Mansfield.This is only the second record ever for The Lodge, so well done and thanks Dave. More sightings of spotted flycatchers this week, two or three have been noted in the woodland around the corner of Sandy Ridge ,near the drive...

Another day of blue skies, hot sunshine and lots of visitors.....just perfect! We have been watching a splendid male wheatear from the Easter bunny watch point on Sandy Ridge this afternoon.It must have arrived overnight as we didn't see him yesterday. It's a remarkable thought that it's...

It's been even more of a pleasure than usual to be working here over the Easter break. Families have been heading off and having fun doing both the Easter hunt and bunny trails and watching the rabbits and wildlife on Sandy heath ( although the hot weather has kept the rabbits below ground for most...

What a start to the day-just turning off the A1 into Sandy this morning and a flock of birds flew up beside the road. I could see straight away that they were Waxwings! I managed to park the car around the corner ( St Neots Road) and walked back with my binoculars to watch around twenty five of these...

Two splendid, well plumaged male bramblings appeared at the hides today and we had another one at the back of the gatehouse, coming down to the small pool to drink. A flock of around 20 waxwings were sallying for insects on bare birches over on the new heath and several hundred fieldfares fed on the...

High up in the sky this morning an Osprey passed over, maybe on its way to it's breeding grounds at Rutland water or up in Scotland.This bird has probably flown all the way from western Africa, which is an incredible journey. At the time, three buzzards, a kestrel and sparrowhawk soared in the air...

There is currently a very popular trend with birders to set the alarm, get up very early, head to a suitable prominent high spot and watch the skies above for birds flying over on what is called ‘visible migration’ , known as ‘vis-migging’. For experienced birders who know...

The first winter thrushes arrived back on the reserve at the weekend. Around a dozen redwings joined up with the mistle thrushes that were already on the new heath and could be seen from the path along the drive . Redwings leave their breeding grounds in Scandinavia and Russia to spend the winter here...