Conservation

Otmoor

Otmoor management

Wildflowers at edge of new pool, RSPB Otmoor nature reserve
A newly created pool at the RSPB Otmoor nature reserve

We are restoring and enhancing the wetland habitat at our Otmoor nature reserve, in Oxfordshire, which is one of the most important wetland sites in central England. A portion of the site is lowland wet grassland within a river floodplain.

The RSPB bought the site in 1997 when it had been identified as one of the top potential wetland restoration sites in the country. Since then, the site has been added to as we bought additional land to restore the former wetland within the reserve. The total amount of land now owned by the RSPB at this site is over 260 ha.

In the 1960s and 1970s about a quarter of the land at Otmoor had been drained for intensive arable farming. A proposal in the early 1980s for the M40 to pass through Otmoor was vetoed following a public enquiry and effective, local opposition (see Alice's Meadow campaign link to the right of this page for further information). In 1994, a scheme called UTTESA – The Upper Thames Tributaries Environmentally Sensitive Area – was established to try and restore the area and improve the river valleys flowing into the floodplain. However, by 1997 only one farmer had restored arable land to grassland and no other action was forthcoming. At that time, Otmoor was the most important single site within the Upper Thames Tributaries ESA area as it was home to 41 pairs of breeding wading birds, including lapwings, redshanks, snipe and curlews. 

We began to restore the site in 1998 in partnership with the Environment Agency and with support from the Heritage Lottery Fund and many others. A project team of RSPB and Environment Agency staff have overseen the work from concept to the present day. They designed the habitats, completed feasibility studies, and involved a number of people from conservationists and ecologists to landscape architects, land agents and civil engineers.   

Otmoor now has a lot more birds and wildlife. There are three times as many breeding wading birds, and ten times as many wintering ducks such as wigeons and teals. New species have also been attracted to the reserve, including pochards, tufted ducks, common terns, ringed plovers, little ringed plovers and great crested grebes. Corncrakes are also believed to have bred. Hairy dragonflies, Roesel’s bush crickets and black hairstreak butterflies have colonised. 

This nature reserve is part of the WRENovation ii scheme supported by Waste Recycling Environmental Ltd through the Landfill Communities Fund (formerly the Landfill Tax Credit Scheme).

To find out more about the results of our work on this reserve have a look at 'What we have achieved'.     

Nature reserves