Update from our wildlife haven, here at Badwell Ash Holiday Lodges

Posted 22/08/2020 : By: Will & Sarah Draper

It's been a fabulous week for those that love to spot the wildlife at Badwell Ash Holiday Lodges. If you're a Twitcher, you would have had a bumper week. The Heron is a fairly regular visitor and has been around all week. You'd think that as a fishery we'd not want such pescadores around but nothing could be further from the truth: the heron is only interested in the smaller fish of which we have plenty, and our reeds, islands and deep water gives the fish plenty of cover and make life hard for the hunter. Our resident pair of Kingfishers have been seen most mornings by those that get up early and enjoy the peace and quiet over the lake. The trick to seeing more than just a flash of blue is to listen for their distinctive high pitched warbling call which gives them away. We have had a Green Woodpecker on site but not up in the trees as you might expect. No, he has been feasting on ants which he has found in the grass at the back of Main Lake! We all know the tap tap tap of a woodpecker, but they have a wonderful 'chuckling' call when in flight, which again is the way to locate them. We have had a pair of Buzzards circling overhead which is an awesome sight, but there has also been a smaller bird of prey circling and swooping much higher in the sky and we have been pondering what it might be. The mystery was solved a couple of days ago by one of the guests who spotted a Sparrowhawk perching on the wooden swing next to their lodge. "Wing on the Swing" was how he described this exhilarating sight! We're excited to see what lies ahead next week ...