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Joe Harris (RSPB Langford Lowfields Site Manager)
This year has proven to be an amazing one for wildlife on Otmoor, highlighted by how well some of our key bird species have done, in particular the lapwings, redshanks and snipe. A pair of common terns have successfully nested on their floating raft again and we are now just waiting with bated breath to see if there will be any juvenile turtle doves this year. Last year the first one was seen on the 10th July so hopefully at least one will come stumbling out of the hedgerow sometime soon.  
The grass is high in the fields at the moment (we won’t start cutting until the end of the bird breeding season) so spotting birds on the ground can be tricky, but there is still lots to see: Hobbies are gracefully catching dragonflies, young hares are hopping around, lots of butterflies are criss-crossing the footpaths, at least one marsh harrier has been seen, lizards are basking on the lizard lounge and the hoard of little egrets and the lone glossy ibis have been favouring the area in front of the first reedbed viewing screen. The water in this portion of the reedbed is slowly being lowered exposing more and more muddy edges, which will provide great feeding areas for a range of bird species. We also had some exciting news at the weekend that a scarce chaser dragonfly was on Otmoor, this is the first time the species has been recorded in Oxfordshire so it’s great that Otmoor can provide it at least a temporary home.
Our volunteer work party teams have been hard at work over the last few weeks maintaining the infrastructure of the reserve; mending sluices, repairing paths and tracks, mending fences, pulling up ragwort and cutting back vegetation. You may well see them if you visit the reserve during the week, beavering away in the hot sun, they are a key component of what makes Otmoor such a successful place for wildlife.
Photos below; Young hare (Terry Sherlock), scarce chaser (Terry Sherlock) and marbled white (Richard Eyres).