About time I went back to The Lodge.

10th April 2013

I was at Amwell when Steve Lane mentioned that he had just been photographing a flock of Bramblings at close quarters under the feeders at The Lodge in Bedfordshire, the headquarters of the RSPB. That was good enough for me so on the next bright and sunny day I set off. I have been to the Lodge once before, but that was some 50 years ago and for some reason I don't remember much about it.

I pulled into the car park and could immediately see the feeders just 20 yards away. I positioned myself about 8 yards from the feeders and waited for the birds to return. This wasn't very long and I was soon snapping away. There were several Redpolls and Siskins on the feeders but I don't like taking photos with ironmongery in them and , in any case, my quarry for the day was Bramblings.

Fortunately, most of the five Bramblings present were males just coming into their black and orange summer plumage. The usual confusion species is the Chaffinch. However, apart from the difference in colouration, in the Chaffinch the breast is coloured right down to the legs whereas for the Brambling only the upper breast is orange and the lower breast is white with a clear dividing line. Also the Brambling has a white rump as shown on the last photo.