I left The Lodge a month ago to do my RSPB Sabbatical in the West Country, surveying cirl buntings in South Devon and monitoring breeding choughs on the Cornish coast. I had a superb experience and enjoyed every minute.
On my return there's a vast difference in the way the reserve looks; the bluebells have been and gone, the reserve has fully sprung to life with lush greenery and I'm really pleased to see that our spotted flycatchers, cuckoos and hobbies are back on the reserve. Warblers are singing everywhere, garden, willow and blackcap, chiffchaff and whitethroat, and a young nuthatch and mistle thrush and a family of ravens shows that the birds have been busy and successful in bringing up their young.
This cheeky wood mouse has found a nice snack in the peanut feeder by the shop, and was unworried about the many visitors walking close by on Bank Holiday Monday.