An oasis for wildlife

By the 1990s drainage and arable cultivation had destroyed much of the old fenland at Otmoor in Oxfordshire. In 1998, the RSPB, in partnership with the Environment Agency, began to restore the site to wetland. 275 hectares of former arable land are now managed as grazing marsh, traditional grazing has been re-introduced, and nearly 50km of ditches have been improved or created.

This has increased breeding wading birds threefold, and there are now ten times as many wintering ducks. Scarce wetland invertebrates including hairy dragonflies, Roesel’s bush crickets and black hairstreak butterflies have also colonised the site. It is hoped that in the future if the polluted River Ray which flows past the site is cleaned up, it can once again be reconnected to these restored floodplain wetlands.