Many of you have seen the flooding across Otmoor. As well as impacting on people and agriculture, the flooding also has a major impact on the wildlife found on the reserve.
On the surface all looks well, with large numbers of ducks, gulls and lapwings feeding on the flooded fields. However this flood water is causing major damage under the surface.
Creatures that live in the soil such as earthworms can only withstand a short period of flooding before they die. Earthworms are essential food for snipe chicks in the spring and so sustained flooding could mean the chicks go hungry.
Flowers are also being damaged by the prolonged flooding. The flowers on the aptly named Flood field (which is shown in the pictures below) are still very young, sown in 2011. They were planted to increase the floral diversity of the field and provide nectar sources for insects such as bumble bees. Flooding can have a massive impact on these and grass sward whilst they are getting established.
To help the earthworms, chicks and flowers we have put on the pumps to reduce the amount of water on Flood field. The rivers levels have been carefully watched and as these are now dropping, we feel it is appropriate to now put the pump on. As the river continues to drop further we will start pumping water off of some of our other fields which are currently holding more than they have done for a number of years.
Take a look at the blueprint for water policy to find out more about what the RSPB are doing for our rivers http://www.wcl.org.uk/blueprintforwater.asp
As a side note, 20 waxwing were seen in Islip yesterday so keep your eyes open for more flocks in the local area.