The Lodge (8th July)

My sister and I combined a day of visiting our grandparents, picking my mum up from the airport and visiting the local nature reserve, The Lodge.  I introduced my sister to some of the local wildlife, a woodpecker being her target bird for the day.  This wasn't difficult to satisfy as we soon saw at least 3+ Great Spotted Woodpeckers, including a juvenile bird and 2 Green Woodpeckers.  I also had a brief view of a Spotted Flycatcher in the car park area, although I'm sure I heard another one but didn't see it.  We only stayed for a short period of time but still managed to fit in a visit to the gardens of the main mansion (also the RSPB's headquarters).  We waited for the sun to emerge and the rain to stop before we visited the heath in hope of some butterflies.  Although not as productive as I would have hoped we still did see 1 Small Heath, several Ringlets and Meadow Browns.

 Small Heath

the heath