Many of you will already have seen the new tern raft floating in the northern phase of the reedbed. Although it might be asking for too much to have expected terns to nest on the raft during this first year, they have been resting on it and will hopefully breed on the reserve next year.

The raft was created in record time with the assistance of a couple of volunteers and the whole staff team. After 2 days of construction…

It's not just young birds that can be seen on the moor at the moment. I came across this pair of roe deer fawns during a recent early morning survey.

In terms of wading birds on Otmoor, it's not only the lapwing that are having a successful breeding season. Redshank are too. If you've been to the reserve recently you'll no doubt have seen and heard these red-legged birds, particularly around the new scrapes on Big Otmoor. It was in this area that I stumbled across the very well camouflaged redshank chick in the photo below.

Other recent bird sightings…

Following the succesful hatching of a good number of lapwing nests on the reserve this year, particularly inside the Big Otmoor predator fence, it has been great seeing fluffy chicks running around the reserve. I had really good views of four large chicks feeding around the edge of the Greenaways scrapes last week and then very recently had the nice surprise of stumbling across this almost fledged chick hiding in the…

At this time of year Otmoor is a brilliant place to see hobbies. Up to 15 have already been seen together, hunting over Greenaways and the reedbed. Hobbies time their return to the UK so they arrive as the dragonflies and damselflies are emerging. The wet weather seemed to delay the emergence of these insects this year but luckily there were lots of other flying beasties around for the hobbies to feed on, effortlessly…

Yet more birds have arrived onto Otmoor. I heard, and was even lucky enough to see my first Cuckoo of the year on the 23^rd April. Just a couple of weeks on and they seem to be ‘cuckooing’ from every hedge. The fact you can hear and see Cuckoo’s on Otmoor is very special. They are one of the fastest declining migrants in the UK. Sadly, we have lost over ½ of our breeding pairs in the last 25 years.…

In terms of birds the reserve is proving to be really good at the moment, the spring migrants continue to flood in, with first sightings of the year during April including: Cuckoo (13th), two Garganey (14th), Yellow Wagtail (14th), Reed Warbler (20th), Grasshopper Warbler (19th), Lesser Whitethroat (20th), Hobby (24th), Whitethroat (24th), Garden Warbler (24th), Common Tern (26th) and Swift (28th). I saw my first Whinchat…

The lovely songs of various warblers are now ringing out all round Otmoor with more and more turning up, almost daily! This morning I was required to be on the reserve for 6am to do the first breeding bird survey of the year, this meant my alarm going off at 4.30am, not something I am used to or enjoy! Once down on the reserve though we were rewarded with a gorgeous sunrise and a fair few birds. Curlew, Lapwing, Redshank…

Spring on Otmoor is always an exciting time of year, not least because it’s the time when lapwing chicks can be seen running around the fields. The first of this season's nests hatched at the end of last week and lots more will follow over the coming weeks. Lapwing chicks are nidifugous meaning that they leave the nest soon after hatching and are able to wander round finding their own food. If you’re lucky you may see…

Otmoor is proving to a great place for wildlife at the moment and Friday (13th April) was no exception. After a morning in the office up-dating risk assessments and preparing maps for the annual report, I managed to escape down to the moor to continue with our lapwing monitoring work. The lapwing are concentrated inside the predator fence on Big Otmoor at the moment and good numbers are sitting on nests, more water was pumped…

On my walk round the predator fence this morning I came across a beautiful male Redstart. It was moving along the hedgeline occasionally hopping down to the ground to feed, I managed to follow it for quite a way. There was another bird in the hedge with it, but I couldn't tell what it was, possibly a female? Around the same area there were a few Wheatear present. There seems to be quite a few around at the moment across…

 The car park will be closed on the 17th April. This is to allow the Tuesday team volunteers to resurface parts of the car park and enable improved access. We apologise for any inconvenience caused. If you have any questions regarding the work, please do not hesitate to contact Owain Hegarty, Assistant Warden 01865 352032 / 07825099386

Last August a common lizard was seen on the fencing in front of the first reedbed screen. Despite their name these reptiles aren’t a common species on the moor and so it was exciting seeing it lazily basking in the summer sunshine.

In an attempt to try and encourage more lizards to this sunny south facing area, a 5* lizard resort has been laid out on the bank. This collection of logs, pipes and rocks will hopefully…

With the arrival of the warm sunny weather, butterflies are now being seen flitting around the reserve. Otmoor's a great place for seeing a range of species and already this year, comma, peacock, red admiral, orange tip, brimstone and small white have been recorded. Grass snakes are being regularly seen basking in the sunshine and the frogs are still croaking away in the ditches. Breeding lapwing and redshank numbers…

The last few days have been great for spotting wildlife. Only 5 minutes of stepping onto the reserve yesterday I witnessed a grass snake, brimstone butterfly (my first this year!), and a huge swarm of excitable frogs in the ditch. The birds, as always, have not disappointed visitors with sightings of a Ruff and Little Ringed plover from the hide.

You may have spotted a couple of strange looking staff (very rare creatures…

Excitement on Otmoor this week as three Common Cranes dropped onto the main reserve Sunday evening before moving over to the Malt Pit field and stayed for Monday morning. The Cranes are now seeming to stop and feed for a few days on their journey North East most years, but where are they going to is the question? We are trying to encourage them to breed here by building them piles of cut reed each year as a nest, they…

The calendar marks today as the first official day of spring as the blossom is bursting open and insects awaken from their winter slumber. Otmoor has been witnessing signs for some weeks now and the birds are as busy as ever.

The lapwings continue to display as they fly high and tumble towards the ground. The first nests should now be visible as they take up their positions in the fields. Curlew can be heard with their…

This is the last WeBS count of the season, unfortunatly it was a bit of a rushed one and I didn't pick up the white-fronted goose, bittern, ruff, little grebe or dunlin during the count (all of which are still around) but there were still lots of other water birds out on the reserve:

Greenaways: Lapwing 20, Wigeon 12, Mute Swan 2, Snipe 1, Golden Plover 5, Mallard 2, Teal 4, Canada Goose 8, Coot 2, Curlew 14, Greylag…

March is regarded as the official start of the bird breeding season and as such it is the time of year when we basically stop doing habitat management work in order to minimise disturbance on the reserve. The thorn coppicing and hedge laying was finished on schedule by the end of February and so the Wednesday and Thursday work parties are now focused on erecting a long stretch of stock fencing around the southern and…

I’ve not put up the records from our regular WeBS counts for a little while, but we did a count yesterday morning (28^th Feb) and the grand totals were...

Greenaways: Mute Swan 7, European white-fronted goose 1, greylag goose 54, Canada goose 9, wigeon 70, teal 2, mallard 6, cormorant 1, grey heron 3, lapwing 70, curlew 4.

Reedbed:  Mute swan 2, Canada goose 4, wigeon 2, gadwall 1, teal 25, mallard 15, shoveler…

The ice and snow has all but gone and with the first calls of Curlew heard this week, spring must be on the way! Curlew breed in a variety of habitats but are more frequently associated with rough grasslands, moorlands, bogs and hay meadows. The individual I heard was at the top of the diagonal track cutting across Greenaways. Listen out for a ghostly call and look for the telltale long bill as they fly over. Curlews,…

Brent geese are a common bird at many coastal sites at this time of year but one turning up at Otmoor is a rare occurrence. So getting a call from Paul Greenaway, one of our local birders, reporting a Brent goose in the reedbed was exciting news (16^th Feb). The goose was associating with a small flock of Canada geese in front of the first reedbed viewing screen before flying over to graze on the Greenaways field. This…

There have been a nice range of birds on the reserve recently. The short-eared owls are still roosting on the moor with at least 5 reported over the weekend. A peregrine has been seen semi-regularly for the last few weeks, a pair of ravens have been seen most days flying over the moor and there are good numbers of kestrels around. The group of bullfinches working their way along the hedgerows near the carpark have been…

We carried out this months WeBS count this morning (16th Jan) and picked up a nice variety of wildfowl and waders. Numbers are still down on previous years though due to the low water levels and the fact most of the reserve was covered in ice this probably didn’t help matters:

 Reedbed:        4 mute swan, 18 wigeon, 2 gadwall, 157 teal, 55 mallard, 1 pintail, 10 shoveler, 1 tufted duck, 1 cormorant, 1 grey heron, 2 coot…

There is still a distinct lack of water on Otmoor and also a distinct lack of starlings roosting in the reedbed. The grand total yesterday evening was two. It’s unlikely starling numbers will increase, but hopefully we still stand a chance of getting some more water, which in turn will lure in more wildfowl and waders as numbers are down on previous years.

In terms of wildlife the short-eared owls are still around…