About us

A Lodge Built by People Who Count Birds

The lodge grew out of a ringing station. For years a small group of ornithologists worked here each spring and autumn, sleeping in tents and cooking on a gas ring, and gradually built a few huts so that volunteers could stay dry. Visitors began asking whether they could come too, and the huts turned into bungalows. The ringing station still operates from the same buildings between March and May, which is why the guiding is unusually precise and why our species lists are worth reading.

Construction stayed light. Buildings sit on screw piles above the flood level, timber is local, roofs are reed cut on rotation from the same beds, and nothing is connected to a mains supply: solar arrays with battery storage run lighting, fans, charging points and the pumps, while water comes from a tested borehole and waste goes through reed-bed filtration. The whole site can be dismantled without leaving foundations, which was a condition of the lease and, more importantly, of our own conscience.

Guiding is done by the same people who carry out the counts: a resident ornithologist, two boatmen who have fished these channels since childhood and, in migration season, whichever researchers happen to be in residence. Guests are welcome to watch the ringing, join the counts and see the data. A fixed share of every booking funds the station, the hides and the reed cutting that keeps the lagoons open.