Otmoor

Blog post: Retern to the raft

Joe Harris (RSPB Otmoor Warden) — Thu, 23 May 2013 12:55:00 GMT

Last year we built a raft which we floated out into the northern phase of the reedbed to try and attract common terns into nesting. They didn’t nest last year, possibly because we got the raft out a bit too late, but this time around we got it out just at the right time. Battling against a massive head wind, we rowed the raft out to its mooring position a few weeks ago and anchored it in place. The raft is covered in shingle to allow the terns to make their nesting scrapes and also has a few clay pipes on top; these will hopefully give some cover and protection to any tern chicks that might make an appearance. We have also put an electric fence around the outside of the raft to keep potential predators at bay. The batteries need changing on this quite regularly and so Zoe and I made our way out to the raft again yesterday to sort this out. A tern was perched on the raft and it looked like a nest scrape had been made, which was good to see.

As well as tern raft related jobs, we also collected some water samples from both phases of the reedbed for analysis. We monitor the condition of the reed itself and also the fish populations in the reedbed, so it’s a good idea to monitor the water quality too so we can keep track of the health and condition of the reedbed and hence it’s suitability for wildlife.

Lots of swifts were hunting over head, we saw a couple of hobbies and also a female marsh harrier soaring over the reeds. Later in the day we heard a turtle dove purring down near the bird feeders and excitingly it now sounds as if 5 of these threatened doves might be on the reserve!

Photo 1.) Approaching the tern raft on the good ship HMS Reedling

Photo 2.) Tern raft with tern seen flying off to the left

Photo 3.) A stowaway!

Blog post: Moor flowers

Joe Harris (RSPB Otmoor Warden) — Wed, 22 May 2013 12:23:00 GMT

There are lots of flowers brightening up the moor at the moment and the photos below were taken during my early morning bird survey yesterday morning. The photos below were all taken on Asham Meads, a Wildlife Trust site on the north east side of the moor, but these flowers are all also found on the RSPB reserve too. Lady’s smock is particularly visible with its delicate, purple-tinged, white flowers, standing out brightly in the fields. Other flowers including the parasitic yellow rattle will be in flower soon too, so keep your eyes open for them.

Later in the year we are hoping to take some ‘green hay’ from Asham Meads and spread it onto our neighbouring field called Malt Pit. The green hay should include lots of flower seeds and once spread over an area of prepared bare ground on Malt Pit, should hopefully help to boast the floristic diversity of the field.

Photo 1.) Cowslip. The name may derive from the old English for cow dung, probably because the plant was often found growing amongst the manure in cow pastures.

Photo 2.) Lady’s smock. Also known as cuckoo flower (because it appears at the time the first cuckoo is heard), is the food plant of the orange tip butterfly, some of which you might have seen fluttering around the moor.

Photo 3.) Green-winged orchid.

Blog post: Vole hole

Joe Harris (RSPB Otmoor Warden) — Tue, 21 May 2013 10:29:00 GMT

You never quite know what you’re going to see on the moor and so it was a nice surprise to come across a field vole nest yesterday. It had at least 5, very young pink vole pups snuggled up in it. The nest was tucked away in a hole I’d buried a lapwing nest camera battery in. As well as chewing up part of the dry bag (that protects the battery) to make the nest, a lot of dried grass had also been collected up to make a cosy protective shelter. I have found lots of toads and newts in these holes too, so have inadvertently been creating some good, dark and secure homes for various beasties.

Other recent sightings on the moor have included lots of hobbies, at least 2 turtle doves (I saw a pair sitting on the Greenaways cattle pen yesterday), a curlew sandpiper, lapwing chicks, drumming snipe, ruff, marsh harrier, grasshopper warblers and a whimbrel. Grass snakes are being seen and it’s been exciting to hear that a pair of common terns have taken up residence on our tern raft. They’ve been seen feeding each other and making a nest scrape, so fingers crossed they’ll breed.

Cattle are now out on the Ashgrave field and the Tuesday volunteers have been hard at work erecting a long section of electric fencing to keep them in the southern, drier part of the field. During the bird breeding season we are trying to protect the lagoon area and we are also wanting to keep cattle away from the area along the northern side of Ashgrave to let the reed area establish itself more. The cattle are a great benefit to the reserve but can also be quite troublesome at this time of year, as after spending winter inside they can be quite boisterous. Because of this it wasn’t a huge surprise to hear Zoe ended up having to frantically herd the marauding bovines back over to the right side of the fence this morning after they sneakily burst through it during a battery change over.

Blog post: Proud parents

Joe Harris (RSPB Otmoor Warden) — Tue, 14 May 2013 08:45:00 GMT

Yesterday’s lapwing nest monitoring showed that most nests inside the anti-predator fence have now hatched. We now just have to hope that the small balls of fluff can make it through the next few weeks until they fledge and are able to fly.

Lapwing chicks are well camouflaged and their defence strategy is to sit perfectly still (hopefully underneath some dense vegetation), whilst the adult birds try and distract/mob any potential predators, swooping and calling loudly until the threat goes. These calls act both to deter the predator but also to tell the chicks to stay where they are. Once the threat has passed the adults will round up any chicks that haven’t been eaten.

Lapwing chicks don’t stay in the nest for very long and soon after hatching are off wandering around looking for food, they might keep returning to the nest for a couple of days but pretty soon they are roaming around, with the parents in close attendance trying to guide them to suitable feeding areas.

Last year it was possible to get good views of chicks feeding on the muddy edges around the large scrapes on Big Otmoor, so hopefully it will be the same this year.

The photos below were taken yesterday and show...

1.) A recently hatched nest with the small shell fragments that I was rambling on about in the last blog post

2.) A recently hatched chick doing a good job at hiding, its egg tooth is still present

3.) An older chick, with no egg tooth, doing a very poor job at hiding

Blog post: Lapwing nests hatching

Joe Harris (RSPB Otmoor Warden) — Mon, 13 May 2013 12:22:00 GMT

It's always exciting at this time of year when the lapwing nests start to hatch out. Five of the nests have hatched so far, with more due to follow soon. The first picture below shows a typical egg following hatching, with the 'flat' end of the egg having been chipped away. The adults take the egg shells away from the nest, but tell tale small fragments are often left behind in the lining of the nest. The second picture shows a very recently hatched lapwing chick, still slightly wet from being in the egg and the egg 'tooth' is still visible on the end of it's bill. When a chick becomes too large to absorb oxygen through the pores of its eggshell, it uses its egg tooth to peck a hole in the air sac located at the flat end of the egg. This sac provides a few hours worth of air, during which the chick breaks through the eggshell to the outside. The egg tooth falls off several days after hatching.

Blog post: A Different View of the Hide

Joe Harris (RSPB Otmoor Warden) — Thu, 09 May 2013 09:34:00 GMT

A slightly different view of the reserve... This photo is taken looking towards the hide from the West side of the huge Ashgrave field. It clearly shows the large 'secret' lagoon on the hill, which you can just about glimpse from the hide and which you can get views of from the path that goes around the outside of Ashgrave.

The muddy edges of the lagoon are providing lots of feeding oppurtunities and the greenshank that's lurking on the lagoon has been now been joined by a ruff. At least 10 swifts were feeding overhead yesterday (my first for the year) and a couple of shelduck were loafing around. A lot of redshank and lapwing are also feeding on insects around the edges of the Ashgrave lagoon, so after some patient watching it was good to find a couple of lapwing nests not too far away, which can become part of this years monitoring project. With the recent BTO bird atlas showing further contraction of the breeding range of lapwing, it's important that we monitor core populations like those on Otmoor to ensure we are doing all we can to help these distinctive birds.

Blog post: Midges are very important!

Joe Harris (RSPB Otmoor Warden) — Wed, 08 May 2013 11:54:00 GMT

Migrating birds are still passing through the moor at the moment on their way to their breeding grounds. I saw four hobbies hunting for large insects over the reedbed yesterday and a wheatear was hopping around out on the Ashgrave field, proudly showing off it’s prominent white rump as it flew from tussock to tussock. We were also lucky enough to see a greenshank on the lagoon on Ashgrave, as well as three ringed plover and a lone little-ringed plover. These latter 2 species can at first glance be tricky to tell apart but with careful observation, you can pick out distinguishing features such as the eye ring of the little-ringed plover and the orange legs and bill of the ringed plover.

The lagoon was teaming with lots of small insects and flies yesterday, perfect food for wading birds that feed round the muddy edges of the shallow water features we have created and which we continually manage on the reserve. We even found a rather impressive chironomid specimen, these blood worms are the larvae of non-biting midges a key food for the wading birds and their chicks... so the swarms of flying creatures on the reserve can be annoying when you have to walk through them, but they provide an essential food source for the lapwing chicks when they hatch out.

Blog post: Surveys at Sunrise

Joe Harris (RSPB Otmoor Warden) — Thu, 02 May 2013 09:53:00 GMT

Spring is always one of our busiest times on Otmoor, on top of the usual reserve and habitat management work we also carry out bird surveys over the whole of the moor and put a lot of effort into monitoring the ground nesting wading birds (lapwing, snipe, curlew and redshank).

Our surveys cover not only the RSPB reserve area but also the MOD land and a number of fields owned by private land owners. These surveys allow us to build up a really good picture of how breeding bird populations (wildfowl, wading birds and passerines) are changing year-to-year. Healthy bird populations mean there are good habitats on the moor, lots of suitable food and that the land management is appropriate. Starting the surveys at sunrise can sometimes be a bit of a struggle but it’s often the best time of day for seeing and more importantly hearing the birds. A lot of the survey work is based on hearing territorial birds singing and so we need to make sure we can identify and distinguish the songs of the species found on the moor, when you’re wide awake this isn’t too tricky but after drowsily staggering round a wet field for a couple of hours at the crack of dawn, it can make things a little bit more of a challenge.

We often find interesting species on the surveys and it’s normally when we get our first sightings of the spring migrants returning from warmer climes. I didn’t have anything too out of the ordinary today but a wheatear, ringed-plover, fly over raven, a few lesser whitethroats, tree creeper and some bullfinches spiced up the morning.

Lots of butterflies are fluttering around the reserve at the moment, the toads are still croaking away in the ditches and if you’re lucky you might see a grass snake basking in the sunshine or hunting in the water. Birds of note that have been seen over the last few days include; whimbrel, turtle dove, garganey, marsh harrier and hobbies (I saw 7 yesterday over the reedbed).

The pictures below were all taken by local birder Peter Coombes and show some of the spring sights on Otmoor...

1.) Pile of amorous toads 2.) Peacock butterfly 3.) Lesser whitethroat feeding amongst black thorn flowers

Photo: Buzzard

Patrick Galka — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 05:51:00 GMT

Blog post: The Birds and the Bees... and the Toads

Joe Harris (RSPB Otmoor Warden) — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 13:19:00 GMT

In terms of wildlife, the reserve is an exciting place to be at the moment. Bumblebees and butterflies are on the wing (I saw brimstone, comma and tortoiseshell yesterday) and lots of the birds that migrate back to the UK in the spring time are being seen on and over the moor. These birds include yellow wagtails, willow warblers, whitethroats, grasshopper warblers, sedge warblers, swallows and house martins. The hares are bounding around the fields and the ditches are alive with croaking and mating toads. You may well catch a glimpse of the large females toads carrying the smaller males around on their backs, a more enjoyable if not slightly slower way of travelling around the moor compared to using my quad bike. (Photo below taken by Lyn Ebbs).

The lapwings are now in full swing with their egg laying and a number of extra nests have been located, hopefully the cold weather during March will have delayed rather than reduced the breeding success this year. Lapwings normally lay four eggs, one a day until the full clutch is present and will then incubate them for about four weeks. Hopefully this means by the time the chicks hatch it will be nice and warm with plenty of tasty insects around.

The photo below shows how well camouflaged a lapwing nest can be, particularly when it only has one egg in it and the bottom photo comes from one of out nest cameras showing a bird incubating it's eggs.

Blog post: Where's the hare?

Joe Harris (RSPB Otmoor Warden) — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 10:34:00 GMT

Otmoor is a great place for seeing brown hares. They are very active at this time of year and with the grass being so short in the fields at the moment you can often get really good views of them. Saying that though, they can also be very very good at hiding, hunkering down and sitting very still until you get very close to them. This happened to me yesterday out in the Big Otmoor field... Can you spot the hare in the photo below? You might need to click on the picture to enlarge it.

Here's another photo of the same hare in its camouflaged position, sitting tight to try avoid detection. Habitat loss has resulted in an 80% decline in hare numbers since the 1800's, so we're lucky to have a healthy population on the moor.

Blog post: Hornywink nests

Joe Harris (RSPB Otmoor Warden) — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 15:04:00 GMT

We are very lucky on Otmoor to have a very healthy breeding population of lapwings. These iconic birds have suffered from changes in agriculture, land drainage, building on flood plains and global warming. In fact in England numbers have declined by 37% since 1982. Because of this, these birds are lucky to have Otmoor available to them as a protected haven. We put a lot of effort into getting conditions just right on the moor for them, making sure the grass is the right length, making sure water levels are at the right depth, making sure there are bare muddy areas feeding areas next to shallow water and making sure there aren’t too many tall trees for perching in around the grassland fields to make things difficult for avian predators.

Things have been a bit delayed this year due to the cold weather but we are pleased to say that the lapwings, or green plover, or peewits, or hornywinks (!?) as they’re sometimes known, have started their egg laying for the year. As part of our monitoring work we use cameras on some of the nests to see what happens (good or bad) to the chicks. You may well see us out in the fields setting these up. Monitoring how well the lapwings are doing is very important, as one of our core target species if they are doing well it tells us that we must be doing a good job and that our management work is working.

Finding lapwing nests can be very tricky, as when on their nest they can be well camouflaged, they also often nest a long way from our observation points and thoughtfully fly off the nest before you get too close. In order to find the nests out in the field you end up getting very good at remembering exactly which grass tussock the bird was sitting next to when you saw it through the telescope.

I’ve included a few pictures below showing how well camouflaged the lapwing eggs are, what the nest camera set up looks like and the sort of pictures we get back from them.

Blog post: Cold winds and white eyebrows

Joe Harris (RSPB Otmoor Warden) — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 15:53:00 GMT

Anyone visiting Otmoor at the moment should be prepared for very cold, biting winds. There isn’t much shelter on the reserve and so the wind can cuts right across the wetland fields. Despite the chilly weather however, there are some signs of spring. The lapwings have started nesting and some of the bird species that have wisely spent their winter in the warm climes of Africa are starting to reappear on Otmoor. Wheatear’s have been seen hopping around on the fields at the Noke end of the reserve and a very dapper looking male garganey was found outside the Wetlands Watch hide on Wednesday (photo below taken by Terry Sherlock). Garganey are the only ducks that visit the UK only during the summer, spending the rest of the year in West Africa. They are small and very secretive, tending to hide in vegetation, if you are lucky though you can sometimes catch a glimpse of them on Otmoor, with the males’ bright white eyebrow being particularly distinctive.

Blog post: Otmoor Otter

Joe Harris (RSPB Otmoor Warden) — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 11:47:00 GMT

Although trying to see an otter on Otmoor can be like trying to find a hairy needle in a haystack, these elusive beasties in recent years have been making good use of the reserve. The reedbed and the ditches running up alongside the bridleway seem to be the best places to see them, although a good deal of luck is required!!

Some nice photos have been taken of the otters and we were lucky enough to get some video footage of one a couple of nights ago when it was sniffing around in front of one of our hidden cameras on Flood field. The regeneration of Otmoor as a wetland has turned it back into a haven for these once-threatened mammals.

Click this link to view the footage: (Please visit the site to view this file)

Blog post: Rare duck found!

Joe Harris (RSPB Otmoor Warden) — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 17:33:00 GMT

We’ve been so busy at Otmoor recently our blog has been very neglected! Hopefully we can get it back on track from now on.

Some exciting news at the moment comes in the form of a rare duck that is currently sheltering in the Otmoor reedbed. Normally found in Eastern Europe and Asia the ferruginous duck (named after the iron colour of its plumage) seems quite happy lurking along the edges of the reed islands and swimming around with the pochards. A few turn up in the UK every year but apparently this is the first to find its way to Oxfordshire since 1989. It was found on Monday and will hopefully stick around for a few more days. The photo below was taken by Terry Sherlock.

Sticking with bird news we had a very successful Wetland Bird Survey on Monday with lots of interesting waders and wildfowl around, the total counts for the survey were:

Mute Swan	5
European White-fronted Goose	7
Greylag Goose	25
Canada Goose	43
Wigeon	474
Gadwall	9
Teal	859
Mallard	93
Pintail	85
Shoveler	552
Pochard	15
Tufted Duck	20
Ferruginous duck	1
Cormorant	1
Bittern	1
Little Egret	6
Grey Heron	7
Water Rail	2
Moorhen	6
Coot	90
Ringed Plover	2
Golden Plover	670
Grey Plover	1
Lapwing	263
Ruff	1
Dunlin	16
Snipe	7
Redshank	10
Black-tailed godwit	10
Curlew	11

The cold weather certainly hasn’t dampened the enthusiasm of the wading birds and the breeding season has definitely kicked off. Redshank and lots of lapwing can be seen displaying in the fields. To help them out a bit we really need to lower water levels in the fields, because of this we're hoping the levels in the ring ditches that surround the moor will carry on dropping so that water can flow out through our sluices. In order to speed up the draining process down at the Noke end of the reserve we’ve had to turn on the pump on to drain the bridleway. We have waited for the ring ditch levels to drop before doing this and the pump will only be on overnight.

Photo: Bittern at Otmoor

martinc — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 06:51:00 GMT

Bittern flying high over the reeds at Otmoor 30th Jan 2013

Blog post: Snow, footprints and a brambling

Joe Harris (RSPB Otmoor Warden) — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 12:40:00 GMT

This is quite old information now but the Wetland Bird Survey results from the start of January were:

Mute swan: 21
European white-fronted goose: 3
Greylag goose:   172
Canada goose:   263
Wigeon:   1260
Gadwall:   16
Teal:   1305
Mallard:   246
Pintail:   4
Shoveler:   4
Pochard:   1
Tufted duck:   28
Little egret:   6
Grey heron:   5
Coot:   54
Golden plover:   450
Lapwing:   973
Snipe:   14

At the moment there is a lot of snow on the reserve, so everything is looking very scenic. Up to 3 hen harriers are being regularly seen, lots of tits and finches are moving along the hedgerows and the northern phase of the reedbed still has some unfrozen water so it’s holding most of the remaining ducks and possibly the 2 bittern seen earlier in the year

Now is a great time for looking for animal tracks in the snow. On Otmoor you’ll be able to find fox, badger, hare and muntjac. The tracks of various birds can clearly be seen too, with species such as mute swan and moorhen being easy to identify. Maybe you’ll be lucky enough to see otter or weasel tracks. Or maybe even the tracks of the elusive beast of Otmoor!

This snow will also bring more birds into peoples gardens, so make sure you keep putting food out for them. In front of the office window today we’ve already had two new additions to the office bird list; brambling and reed bunting, Zoe got good pictures of both (see below). Site manager David Wilding even found a woodcock in his garden yesterday so you never know what might turn up! Let us know if you have any unusual garden sightings.

If you love watching your garden birds why not get involved with the Big Garden Bird Watch on 26^th-27^th January http://www.rspb.org.uk/birdwatch/

Blog post: Snowed under

Zoe Edwards (Estate Worker) — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 11:04:00 GMT

Everywhere is white, frozen, cold and wet, it may look pretty but these conditions are extremely tough on wildlife. Finding food becomes more difficult and surviving each night becomes uncertain. Small mammals are hidden in tunnels under the snow, keeping warm under ground, making it difficult for the raptors to find them, meaning they would need to rely on others food sources which may also be scarce. Large mammals will also be struggling to find food, having to dig through the snow and with a lack of camouflage against the white snow.

A lot of the water on the reserve is frozen, resulting in a lack of wildfowl and the areas which are not frozen have large numbers on them. The food which the waders and wildfowl rely on is either under a layer of snow in frozen ground or frozen in the water. The majority of these birds have moved off in order to find the food they need to survive. The hedgerow species are also struggling with everything frozen, needing to search over a larger area to find food, becoming more confiding to us. I counted 7 Bullfinch along then path between the car park and the feeders at the end of last week. We have been keeping the feeders topped up and made sure more seed has been spread on the ground to help during these tough times. We have also put apples on and around the feeders to help the winter thrushes survive but this will also encourage them to come closer to us. A Waxwing may even turn up!

The Big Garden Birdwatch is this weekend so I hope you are feeding your birds, not only to help them during these harsh days and nights but to keep them coming back over the weekend. You never know something unusual may turn up.

Out on the reserve yesterday was quiet, but a few birds still put in appearances, including the female Hen Harrier, Water Rail, several duck species and a couple of Treecreepers.

The visitor trail Friday morning!

Blog post: Flood waters on Otmoor

Owain Hegarty - Assistant Warden — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 13:26:00 GMT

After a very wet December, water levels on the moor are at a record high. Short term flooding benefits flood plains by in fluxing an area with nutrients from the over spilled river. Long term flooding can however be detrimental to the soil, leaving earthworms and insects to drown.

Wading birds such as Lapwing and Redshank probe the soil with their bills and feed on insects within the soil. Long term flooding will remove their main food source.

We have carefully monitored water levels in the ring ditch. Now that the water has dropped significantly, we have temporarily turned on the Greenaways field pump to lower levels in the field.

Winter is also the time of year we carry out the reed cut on the reedbed. This year we will be focusing on areas in the southern reedbed. An earlier effort to cut the reed this winter failed, as temperatures were just too low.

In early December most of the reserve, apart from the reedbed was frozen. The reedbed became a haven for wildfowl and so the reed cut had to wait.

Drawing the water levels down in the Greenaways field will benefit the southern reedbed by allowing water movement into Greenaways. Although this water will still be held on the reserve, it will allow us to carry out the reed cut before the bird breeding season.

Blog post: WeBS 2nd Jan

Owain Hegarty - Assistant Warden — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 13:15:00 GMT

Every 2 weeks all the Otmoor staff rise at the crack of dawn to carry out a Wetalnd Bird Survey. The results of this are very important and allow us to monitor how wetland birds are doing and whether our management is heading in the right direction. We usually split up, allowing each of us to concentrate on one particular area of the reserve... Just as well, otherwise it would take all day!

The results of yesterdays WeBS are below.

Teal: 834 (102 Reed bed, 96 Ashgrave, 350 Big Otmoor, 250 MOD, 14 Maltpit, 22 Flood)

Pochard: 3 Reedbed

Wigeon: 800 (400 MOD, 250 Big Otmoor, 150 Greenaways)

Pintail: 50 MOD

Mallard: 101 (2 Reed bed, 2 MOD, 12 Ashgrave, 48 Big Otmoor, 7 closes, 6 Greenaways, 6 Flood, 18 Maltpit)

Tufted duck: 13 (3 Ashgrave, 9 Maltpit. 1 Flood)

Gadwall: 6 (2 MOD, 4 Reedbed)

Shoveler: 38 (4 Ashgrave, 30 MOD, 4 Big Otmoor)

Little egret: 4 Ashgrave

Heron: 3 (2 Big Otmoor, 1 Ashgrave)

Bittern: 1 Reedbed

Mute swan: 15 (3 Reed bed, 1 Big Otmoor, 4 Flood, 5 Closes, 2 Greenaways)

Greylag goose: 313 (100 Ashgrave, 213 Big Otmoor)

Canada goose: 223 (6 Reedbed, 14 Ashgrave, 162 Big Otmoor, 16 Greenawys, 25 Flood)

Moorhen: 8 (2 Reedbed, 6 Closes)

Coot: 10 (6 Reedbed, 2 MOD, 1 Closes, 1 Big Otmoor)

Cormorant: 2 reedbed

Lapwing: 1242 (30 Ashgrave, 13 Big Otmoor, 1 Maltpit, 53 Greenaways, 1,145 Flood)

Golden plover: 1,140 (Flood)

On our travels we also spotted a Kingfisher, Stonechat, Peregrine, Hen harrier (female) and Goldcrest!