A lot has happened in June- and I'm just off to Crete for my hols- so I thought a round- up of the best of the month might be in order. Enjoy your summer walks around The Lodge!

Ray PiercyLinnet Ray Piercy

Great-spotted woodpecker leaving; nest Ray Piercy

Nuthatch in nest Jan Murphy

Minotaur beetle; Betty Cooke

Wild History Day; Graham Taplin

Birch weaving at Wild History Day. Graham Taplin

Me introducing Stornoway…

If you've been to The Lodge gardens recently you can't have failed to see the family of greylag geese that have been raised here are now happily wandering around like lords of the manor!. They are becoming quite an attraction, so I thought I'd put a couple of Ray Piercy pictures on the page to show you.

Come along to grab a bargain in The Lodge shop- the summer sale has just started!

You may have been captivated by the amazing films on Springwatch, of a family of stoats springing around and keeping everyone entertained as they go about raising their young at Minsmere? Well, we have just found out that we have our very own stoat family at The Lodge and over the weekend they were being seen by the lucky visitors in the hide!

I'll try to get some images of the stoats on this page- I know there were some photographers…

From Stornoway to Spring Fair.

Phew- it was an eventful weekend at The Lodge. Saturday night saw the indie folk band Stornoway play here to over 180 visitors and fans. Stornoway are keen bird watchers and wildlife fans and huge supporters of the RSPB, so played three acoustic 'gig's at RSPB Minsmere, Rainham Marshes and here at The Lodge to raise funds for the charity. Big thanks to Stornoway for being so supportive…

Would you like to be a Time Explorer and discover how ancient people shaped the natural world through their crafts.?

 Sunday is our Wild History event day at The Lodge- from 11 am to 5am.

We will be running a series of great activities and demonstrations which you can take part in and enjoy. Watch as a Bronze dagger is smelted; get mucky hands making pottery, paint some rock art and grind some grain just as the ancient…

The spotted flycatchers have been quite difficult to pin down and see this year, but Ernest, our volunteer who fills the bird feeders, had a quick glimpse of one this morning, on his walk to the hide. This is the most regular location for them, but they aren't guaranteed to be around - as I know! A family of linnets are feeding around the back of the car park overflow and another family of mistle thrush are in this area…

A few weeks ago a family came into the Visitor Centre and dad Tim explained that his twelve year old daughter Asha was organizing a stand at Clophill fete, to fundraise for the RSPB. We gave Tim a box of info leaflets and goodies to sell and an RSPB banner to go on the stand. Afterwards, Asha wrote a lovely letter and told us about the fete and why she had chosen the RSPB as her favoured conservation charity. I then received…