A third hobby chick has just been spotted in the nest......

The hobby's are busy feeding and looking after their two chicks, which (we think) hatched on Monday.

We have now set up a trail to the marked view point where you can safely watch them and we have organised some initial dates when RSPB volunteers will be on hand to show the birds through the telescope....

Great news, the hobbies were extremely vocal this morning, and volunteers Kathy and Peter went up the trail towards Galley Hill from the shop to investigate. They found at least two birds had hatched and were sitting up in the nest, with the adults in attendance looking over them. We now plan to set up a short hobby trail over the next couple of days to lead to the nest location and we'll advertise when we are holding hobby watch…

A pair of buzzards with two newly fledged chicks are nesting near our Visitor Centre.  We have arranged for our volunteers to show the nest on the days and times below, so visitors can see  the large chicks and the parents coming in at times to feed them!

Timings approximate.

Thursday 6 July; morning.

Friday 7 July; morning

Saturday 8 July; 11 am - 4 pm

Sunday 9 July;  11 am - 4 pm

Monday 10 July; afternoon

 So come…

I  spent a few hours this afternoon in the Visitor Centre, which gives great views over the new heath. Buzzards were up in the air regularly, and seemed on various occasions to be carrying food into the large fir trees. A willow warbler and garden warbler gave sporadic bursts of song and I realised as we head into July that we sadly won't be enjoying these songs for very much longer, as the birds start to quieten down after the…

Graham Taplin took these great pictures of small heath butterfly, broad-bodied chaser and emperor dragonfly at The Lodge over the weekend.
No sign of the weekends spotted flycatcher today in the sweltering conditions, but the hobbies were about on the new heath early this morning. On a walk up from The Lodge HQ, I heard whitethroat, willow warbler, chiffchaff, blackcap and garden warbler, so with summer solstice coming…

Great news; at least one spotted flycatcher has been showing off, on top of birches and trees alongside the Gatehouse and the overflow car park, pretty well all day today. I'm sure I heard more than one bird calling, but could never see more than a single bird at any one time. It's the first time I've seen them here this year, although we have had a few sporadic reports since they arrived back in May. Several…

Bees and wasps of The Lodge

Sun 25 June 1 pm – 3 pm

The Lodge is home to an amazing variety of bees including cuckoo, honey and bumble bees, along with wasps and the other creatures that prey and parasite on them. Several other insects found on the reserve even mimic different bees and wasps.

RSPB ecologist Bex Cartwright is leading this walk to discover these often hidden, but truly amazing insects.

Bex will…

Sitting here today looking out at the rain and wind it seems a long time ago I was working in the Visitor Info Centre in the bright sunshine over the weekend!

One lucky visitor had great views of young tawny owls near the start of the Quarry Trail on Sunday, although I went down and they had disappeared back into the trees. The hobbies are active along the Galley Hill trail,while red kite, sparrowhawk,, several buzzards and…

We are halfway into the half-term week, and we had a great weekend of activities and walks, along with the Spring Trail, which is on until June 11.
The pictures show Leah and Taylor Puddick and Thomas Coates with our volunteer Gill, being presented with their Wild Time certificates, after completing the trail and Tony and Betty starting the 'What's that warbler' walk.

The hobbies are busy on the new heath…

Over the past couple of weeks Lizzie (warden) and Bex (reserves ecology) have been spending their evenings in search of the reserves natterjack toads. These rare toads don't start spawning until April and like it when it is warm and wet, something we have been lacking recently. However on one night 7 adults were seen and on other occasions there have been some 1 year old toads crawling about.

Last night Ben Andrews…

We are expecting (and hoping) that our spotted flycatchers will arrive any day now. Last year they were first seen on the 6 May, but these cold conditions may have held them back a bit this year. Some exciting news as well; Mark Gurney, the RSPB ecologist, heard a nightjar on Saturday evening, over the road on Sandy Heath We've had no further reports, so it was probably just have been passing through, but It's positive…

The Lodge.

We had an early start for the Sounds of Spring Dawn chorus walk this morning, but well worth it to be out and listening to the birds at the start of the day. Cuckoo, hobby, lots of warblers and a few swifts overhead were the highlights of the walk, + the bacon roll at the end!

Last night we had the twilight and bat walk, and although it was quite cold the bats performed well and the natterjack toads were calling…

The wood warbler was still on site today ( Friday 28th), best to start by checking the birches around the hide, although as I know after three unsuccessful attempts, it is very tricky to pin down!

 There has been no sighting since this morning's at 9 am I've just heard?

The first hobby at The Lodge this spring has been seen over the new heath today- great news!

After the very busy Easter, I have a few minutes to do a blog again and let you know what's about!

It's a good year for the common warblers, with high numbers of both willow warblers and blackcaps, and chiffchaffs are also here in good numbers. However, the northerly winds seem to be stopping other migrants arriving, I haven't had any reports of cuckoo as yet and last year they arrived on 12 April, although I have…

There will be live filming from The Lodge tomorrow between 5am & 9.30am, mainly at the hide and the gardens so access to these areas may be limited.

Afterwards there will be some vegetation clearance occurring around the ponds at the hide to benefit the natterjack toads.

Apologies for any disturbance this may cause.

I popped out between the showers a few moments ago and my reward was watching a stunning male siskin on the feeders. Not too surprisingly considering the cold and wet it's been very quiet here today, but our regional Director James Robinson popped in on his way to a meeting at HQ and was very happy, as he'd seen the bramblings under the feeders!

There is still a sizeable flock of winter thrushes on Sandy Ridge, but…

Five red kites were wheeling and soaring together over the new heath at 14:45 today, at times mobbing a buzzard flying amongst them. I've only seen individual red kites here before, so this was an impressive sight.

A mixed flock of around 50 fieldfare, 20 redwing and 30 starlings is building up on Sandy Ridge, but no wheatears have been spotted amongst them yet. A male brambling is occasionally joining the chaffinch flock…

It's been hard work for many birders trying to get a view of the twite just off the reserve on Biggleswade Common. A single bird is making occasional visits to drink in this spot before flying off onto other areas toward Sandy Ridge and Sandy Heath.

So top marks to Ray Piercy for managing to get this picture of the bird, and a great shot of a long-tailed tit already on it's nest near HQ.

It's been quite a poor year for bramblings this winter, but we've been watching two males from the Visitor Centre today, adding a nice touch of colour to a very drab day. Our efforts in seeding under the trees here finally paid off! 

Image credit Michael Lawrence. Brambling at The Lodge

It certainly has the feel of spring over these last few days. Brimstones and peacock butterflies have been darting about, birds are singing everywhere, woodpeckers are drumming and buzzards have been displaying over the new heath. The first chiffchaff should be announcing its presence any day and then we'll know that spring is really here!

John Bridges (rspb-images.com)

Lizzie was with a TV crew yesterday and they were…

It is that time of year where we put on the Giving Nature a Home festival at The Lodge reserve.

Sunday 5 March

11.00am - 3.00pm

An event full of fun and discovery.
• Bird ringing demonstrations
• Owl pellet dissection. What do owls hunt and eat in these engaging sessions
• Quiz's and nature table with Bedfordshire Natural History Society 
• RSPB Bedford Local group. Local information and latest organized…