The wind turbine has arrived in sections today, causing great excitement as we watched the police convoy escorting the huge blades past the entrance.

We'll post a few pictures showing the development of the turbine as construction progresses.

Senior Site manager Peter Bradley has been monitoring the work and took these pictures.

There's been a couple of sightings of the much sought after lesser-spotted woodpecker today, in different areas of the Sandy Ridge trail. The first was where the pylons cut through the woodland on the top of the trail, and another a little further along, on a line of trees nearer the wind turbine spot.On each time the bird has been amongst a flock of long tailed tits. I'll be out looking for it tomorrow with Lizzie!…

The bramblings are proving a large draw for birders and photographers - and generally apearing under the feeders to keep everyone happy!
If they aren't about there is plenty of other activity; with a constant flow of coal, blue and great tits, greenfinches,goldinches and chaffinches, dunnocks, blackbirds and the occasional great-spotted woodpecker and nuthatch.
Away from the feeders, a pair of ravens and a red kite…

Author: Peter Bradley, Senior Sites Manager, The Lodge

Next week, final construction work begins on our 100 m tall wind turbine, located within Sandy Ridge field at The Lodge nature reserve. It is predicted to generate 1.85 million kWh of green energy every year, equivalent to over half of the electricity the RSPB uses across its 127 UK locations.

The turbine will arrive on eight lorries and will be erected over…

A welcome slash of colour from a yellowhammer at The Lodge on a dull, cold 'proper' winters day.

I took a new volunteer around the reserve today and although it was cold, many birds were in song and lots of plants are flowering, including a rhodedendron and red-hot poker in the gardens, and in the sunshine it felt almost like late March, not mid January.!

The entrance banners are now completed; thanks to Barrie Hicks and Ben from Countryside Contracts for all of the hard work in getting them installed, often in bad…

There is a lot of activity at the entrance to The Lodge at the moment, with two seperate contract works taking place. Traffic lights are currently being installed at the entrance to make access to the reserve safer for visitors and staff, and for people using the bridleway that cuts across the busy and fast B1042. A 50 mph speed limit will be in place along this stretch to further enhance safety. We also have some large…

Today's Winter Wonderland walk didn't exactly live up to it's billing on a wet, dull day, but 18 people enjoyed the stroll and the mulled wine and mince pies that we had at the end of the walk.

At least three brambling have been around the shop feeders today, two male and one female, and a small flock of siskin were seen around the reserve.

Good luck if you are going back to work or school tomorrow after the long…

A very happy New year to you!

My bird list has started well at The Lodge, with two male bramblings under the feeders, nuthatch, great-spotted woodpecker and all of the regular tits and finches in good numbers. On the journey in, I saw a little owl perched on an open branch on a regular tree along the Everton to Tempsford Road, and two Egyptian geese in fields near Little Barford. A lesser- spotted woodpecker would be the…

On a bright sunny morning, a small flock of brambling, yellowhammer, redpoll, siskin and reed bunting were active around the edge of Sandy Ridge, amongst the birch saplings that border the car park extension. A male brambling was seen at times under the feeders throughout yesterday, when we were really busy with visitors, with the car park being full for most of the day.

I  received these pictures this morning from Kate Thoday…

To brighten up a damp and dreary day after Boxing day, here are a few pictures of some colourful birds seen at The Lodge over Christmas week.

Today there's been two treecreepers together on the large oak near the visitor centre, several redpolls, including one on the feeders at the shop, and a flock of redwings flying around the gatehouse.

From top left- siskin, coal tit, redpoll, siskin and goldcrest.

All image credits…

I've been speaking to  Val and Nick, the gardeners here at The Lodge, and they've been telling me about the unusual happenings the mild conditions are causing in the plant world at the moment. Perhaps most surprisingly, some of the bluebell shoots are emerging- normally this is a late January February event. Snowdrops, mahonia, witch hazel and rhodedendrons are floweringing, and several species of bees are still visiting…

Aside from the sacking of football managers Jose Mourinho and even more importantly! John Stills from Luton Town FC yesterday, the news has been full of the exceptionally mild weather; with stories of  flowering holly, blooming daffodils and snowdrops, birds mating, great-spotted woodpeckers drumming, hedgehogs not hibernating and frog spawn and even frogs in the ponds. There's been a swift in Cambridgeshire  and swallows…

There was a noticeable change in the amount of 'new' birds around The Lodge today and during the week. Around the feeders at The Gatehouse, greenfinch numbers have built up, a female brambling has shown at times, and a few reed buntings and yellowhammers were in a mixed flock along the low birches on the edge of the car park, near the Sandy Ridge field today. On Thursday a red kite appeared on Sandy heath and a raven…

Aside from the very gusty winds, there's been little sign of winter in recent weeks, but over the weekend a brambling under the feeders near the shop added a winter element to the wildlife here. Having had a scan today, the female type bird was around again, at the feeding area to the side of the drive- opposite the shop. Siskins and redpolls were also reported here on Sunday and there are good numbers of redwing and…

I had a walk over to the wind turbine site yesterday to take a few pictures of the area where the structure will be located, and had the bonus of a red kite floating in front of me as it soared across the Sandy Ridge field. A small flock of meadow pipits flew up, their thin 'seep seeping' calls rising up to give their presence away and redwings and mistle thrushes were busy feeding along the wooded edges.

The feeders…

Ethan Brailey was the first person to write his letter to Santa at The Lodge Christmas event today. Despite the bad weather, we have made some quick new arrangements and the children's festivitve activities are now in the cosy Visitor Centre with the woodburner glowing, Santa's elves are in the shop and we have mince pies and mulled wine for sale in the shop as well. At 2:30 today, singing group Virvace from Arlesey are…

A lesser-spotted woodpecker was seen today, in the same area this bird favoured in the spring, at the bottom of the pylon line on the Sandy Ridge trail. The bird was amongst a large tit flock, a good way to search and to track down this scarce bird in the winter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MZ7Abmz8rM&feature=youtu.be

Have a look at this amazing clip on youtube, of migrating birds stopping off on a research vessel across the Baltic sea.

Autumn is finally in full flow today, with the leaves dropping in large golden swathes across The Lodge- and there's even a touch of cold in the wind now, so perhaps winter will arrive after all. Even so, yesterday we watched a couple of red admiral butterflies flitting over the roofs near the shop and there are still a few ladybirds, wasps and bees flitting about at times.The bird life has remained very static here recently…

Southern hawker Nov 1 at The Lodge gardens. Image credit Graham Taplin

After this mornings post in the fog and gloom, the sun suddenly appeared and blazed in a pure blue sky after lunch-time, and it's been a gorgeous autumn afternoon here. What we didn't expect on the first day of November was to see a southern hawker dragonfly around the pools in the gardens!  Graham Taplin, one of our volunteers, took a picture of it, which I'll post when he sends it across to me.