One of the earliest works for which he made illustrations was Lord Lilford’s Birds of Northamptonshire, in conjunction with Archibald Thorburn, whose skill as a bird-artist Lodge greatly admired.

He studied bird skin specimens from a number of different collections in Britain including the Natural History Museum and eventually supplied 90 plates to the Wildlife Service of the Department of Internal Affairs of New Zealand.

Due to the illness of the author the proposed book was never finished and the plates remained with the Department of Internal Affairs until they were transferred to the Dominion Museum in 1948.

In 1983 the remaining[clarification needed] 89 plates were eventually published in the book George Edward Lodge: The Unpublished New Zealand Bird Paintings with text by C.A.

Lodge died in hospital on 5 February 1954 at Frimley, Surrey[6] and his ashes were interred in the same churchyard as his parents' grave at St Benedict's, Horncastle, Lincolnshire.

[7] The author of his obituary in The Times wrote: A man of most exceptional charm and distinction, [Lodge] was recognized on both sides of the Atlantic as one of the finest bird-artists this country has ever produced.