Don’t forget it’s the Big Garden Bird Watch this weekend! So make sure you’ve got lots of tasty treats out for the hungry birds to nibble on. As the winter progresses and food starts running out in the wider countryside, birds will become more and more tempted to come and feed in people’s gardens. Have a look at the BGBW website to get ideas of what food garden birds need, get tips on how to identify the birds and maybe…

With the moor being very wet, the birds are spread out over a larger area. Many duck are favouring the MOD land next door as the fields have turned into lakes! A total of 17778 birds were counted this morning, a massive number. We had record numbers of wigeon and teal with well over 4000 of each. It is nice to see good numbers of pintail, a bird that has been scarce from Otmoor over the past couple of years. As the flood…

Otmoor is proving to be great for bird life at the moment, the whooper swans appear to have moved on but there are still loads of interesting wintery type birds flapping around the moor. Just yesterday for example a short-eared owl and hen harrier were seen, about 3000 lapwing and 2000 golden plover were moving around the flooded areas in huge flocks, two kingfishers were fishing in the ditch near the bird feeders, bullfinches…

In the run up the exciting Big Garden Birdwatch 2014, https://www.rspb.org.uk/birdwatch/ we are running a family event on Otmoor on 18^th January. Suitable for children aged 5-12, there will be lots of fun, interactive activities to get involved with between 11am and 2pm. See some of the fantastic wildlife that lives on Otmoor, get some tasty tips for attracting more birds to your garden and learn how to identify our feathered…

After a 2 week break over christmas, the semi early start was a bit of a shock to the system! It was nice to get down onto the reserve and see what the water levels were doing and the number of birds present. And it was very wet down on the moor, not just the reserve but the surrounding areas, the MOD land in particular is now a lake! The warden Joe found out just how deep some of the flood water was when trying to walk…

Below are the results from this mornings WeBS count. Duck and lapwing numbers are still on the up, would be nice to see a few more teal and pintail but with the weather still relatively mild, we may have to wait for a cold snap. Nice to see the 3 whooper swans still present, they were on the reedbed from the second screen when I got there this morning before moving off to the fields north west of the reserve to feed.…

The beautiful whooper swans that turned up on the reserve on Monday (and which were talked about in my last blog), roosted in the reedbed again last night, so if you're down on the reserve today keep an eye out for them. They seem to be moving onto the grassland fields to feed during the day, so have a good look at any large white birds you see on the moor. There are two adults and two young ones with them. Whooper swans…

Even though we work on a nature reserve, it's not often we have the time to have a good walk round the reserve looking at nature. Because of this, I always look forward to helping with the Wetland Bird (WeBS) Counts during the winter months. Otmoor provides a great winter home for a wide range of birds and there are lots of berries, seeds, grass and insects for them to feed on. The WeBS counts are a great opportunity…

Results from today's count. 4 whooper swans picked up on neighbouring farmland is a nice addition to the count. Golden plover now here in numbers and lots of raptors about this morning.

Mute Swan 6 Whooper swan 4 Greylag Goose 109 Canada Goose 259 Wigeon 960 Gadwall 36 Teal 152 Mallard 189 Pintail 1 Shoveler 41 Tufted Duck 4 Cormorant 3 …

Below are the results from the WeBS count on Monday 25th November. There is a notable rise in wigeon compared to two weeks ago, from 274 to 1021. There were a couple of large flocks of lapwing and some small snipe flocks. My first pintail of the winter, a dapper looking drake on the reedbed, was hanging out with the mallard. I always enjoy watching pintail, they are just so elegant and their plumage is exquisite.

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As well as being the Warden on Otmoor, I’m also the Warden for a small woodland reserve in Buckinghamshire called Church Wood. The wood is one of the oldest RSPB reserves and is almost entirely managed by two volunteer work parties (Pinner and West London). During the spring, Church Wood is carpeted with bluebells and throughout the year it plays host to a range of woodland birds, butterflies, moths, flowers, mammals…

 After a few months of hard work, the viewing screen that looks out over the northern part of the Otmoor reedbed has been completed! The Tuesday work party have done an amazing job and the finished screen looks very professional. Benches, stoned floor and guttering have been added, with finishing touches including elbow rests to be put in at a later date. Attention is now going to shift to starting work on the southern…

Here are the results for a very damp WeBS count! The roof on the new screen worked well though, keeping us dry while counting the few birds up there. Wigeon numbers are slowly rising and now we have released the water from the northern reedbed, Greenaways and Big Otmoor are filling up nicely. With these fields wetter, we should start to see more waders and wildfowl arriving to make use of the moor. The hen harrier was…

I managed to complete a WeBS count this morning in the wind and rain, although it had eased significantly from when I woke at 4am to lashing rain and howling wind. A lot of the ducks were in hiding, so creeping around the edges of the reedbed and looking down all the channels was required. Wigeon numbers have increased from 5 two weeks ago and teal from 22. Mallard are also increasing with large numbers on most fields…

Not wanting to be the bearer of bad news but earlier this week a visitor to the reserve had the number plate stolen from the back of his car. It happened in the middle of the day so it was very unfortunate that no one else noticed it happening. Hopefully it is an isolated incident but the advice from Thames Valley Police is:

These are the latest WeBS count numbers from the moor. Shame the great white egret didn't put in an appearance! Numbers of teal and mallard are on the rise and I picked up a nice flock of 25 lapwing.

Mute swan                         14

Greylag goose                   184        

Canada goose                    37

Wigeon                                                5

Teal                                        22

Mallard                                 63

Shoveler                              3

Pochard                               1

Little grebe                         3

Great crested grebe       1             

Cormorant                          1

Little egret                          1

Grey heron                         4

Moorhen                             3

Coot                                      16

Lapwing                              

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If you hear rustling in the reedbed and see a large hairy shape come lumbering into view it might be one of our dedicated team of volunteers. If it's not a volunteer it may well be one of the herd of cattle that are now grazing the reedbed.

With their large appetites, the cattle will graze on the grassy banks and around the edges of the reed. The open areas created will provide great habitats for birds, with many…

It’s always exciting when something a little more unusual turns up on the reserve and the massive bird that was stalking around in front of the hide today certainly counted as unusual for Otmoor. It was a great white egret, a bird about the size of a grey heron, but pure white and with a massive, sharp, yellow bill. Their necks' seem impossible long when stretched out and this majestic bird was using it’s ferocious…

We completed the first Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS) of the winter on Monday. Duck numbers low, as is to be expected with the dry conditions in the fields but with large numbers of greylag and canada geese.

Mute swan 8

European white-fronted goose 0

Greylag goose 152

Canada goose 276

Wigeon 9

Gadwall 11

Teal 8

Mallard 57

Pintail 0

Shoveler 4

Pochard 3

Tufted duck 7

Little grebe 2

Great crested grebe 4

Cormorant…

Those of you who have visited the reserve recently will have seen the hedgerows are laden with sloes, bright red haws and rosehips, with a few damsons and crab apples thrown in for good measure. All this fruit should provide a good source of food for those birds brave enough to spend the winter on the moor. Flocks of redwings and fieldfares roam the Otmoor hedgelines in winter and so there will be plenty of tasty, high…

The Otmoor turtle doves have attracted some good media attention recently, with BBC Oxford broadcasting a radio and a TV piece about them yesterday (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-23674345). A number of people had come to the reserve with the aim of seeing the doves, so it was great to capture this excitement in the TV piece. It seemed like almost every visitor to the reserve in the morning was asked…