We have all three species of UK newt living on Otmoor; common, palmate and great crested. At the moment there seem to be a lot of common newts (also known as smooth newts) wandering around, presumably looking for sheltered places to spend the winter. I saw one of these at the weekend clambering up the side of the lizard and newt hiberation mound situated by the first reedbed viewing screen. He introduced himself as Norbert and seemed very pleased with his new winter home.
He ambled around for a bit and then said his goodbyes and before shuffling down into the mound to find a cosy spot to spend the winter.
Autumn is a good time of year for fungi and there are some nice specimens dotted around the reserve at the moment. I came across this shaggy ink cap in the Greenaways field, also known as lawyer's wig or shaggy mane, they are edible but are unusual because they turn black and dissolve themselves in a matter of hours after being picked or depositing spores.
I also found these these distinctive looking fungi growing in the reedbed, they were green and very very slimy but as yet I've not worked out what they are. I decided not to try eating one and may test them out on Owain, the other Assistant warden, instead.
Lots of exciting things have happened on Otmoor this year and another addition to this list is the fact that this is the first year in which we'll be wetting up the Closes field. Following it's restoration from arable farmland to wildlife-rich wet grassland, the field was held dry for 3 years to allow the grass to establish, these 3 years have passed and so we can now let water levels rise up and hopefully attract lots of winter wildfowl onto Closes. When the water levels reach their maximum levels a large lagoon should form near the Wetlands Watch hide. As well as this, to give another view of the field one the volunteer work parties has created a viewing point by trimming the top of the hedgerow and strimming a section of gress near the bird feeders. Other bays were also cut into the grass along the track to hopefully generate some botanical diversity and to provide extra basking areas for grass snakes which are still being seen around the reserve.