Goldcrest. The Lodge. Feb 2013.

 Seen regularly around the feeders at The Lodge, feeding on small pieces of dropped seed.

Mealy Redpolls at The Lodge. 2013.

Bird 1

With so many Mealy Redpolls being reported at The Lodge, and plenty of pictures in the bag, Steve Blain and I decided to sort through our images and try and ascertain how many Mealies were involved. After a couple of hours, detailing wing patterns and plumage details we checked between our own photos and came up with 8 different birds. A couple of the original birds were still frequenting the feeders, and some new ones had turned up more recently. On my last visit with my Dad, we had seen 4 Mealy Redpolls and 2 of those were new to me. I would like to thank Steve Blain for taking the time to scour through the photos and educate me in Redpoll 'id which has been an interesting and enjoyable lesson, hopefully they'll stay a bit longer for some more photographs. 

 Bird 2

 Bird 3

 Bird 4

 Bird 5

 Bird 6

 Bird 7

Bird 8

Siskins. The Lodge. Feb 2013.

 Plenty of these stunners at The Lodge, and a couple of Bank Voles sharing the spoils of spilt seed with them.

Lesser Redpolls. Feb 2013.

 A selection of Lesser Redpoll images from The Lodge, check out the colouration in the above birds crown feathering. Still sorting through potential Mealy images, these deserve as much space though. More images on my Blog.

The Lodge Feeders. 8th & 9th Feb 2013.

 A selection of images from the Lodge feeders, whilst looking for the Mealy Redpolls, taken over the 8th and 9th Feb. 

The Lodge. 21st October.

The 6 Woodlark showed reasonably well for a period before moving to the new heath and out of sight. And whilst waiting I happened to look behind me and saw an Osprey complete with fish.

Sparrowhawk

This morning at the lodge

Crossbills at Sandy RSPB.