The majority of these pictures were taken at Otmoor, the RSPB reserve to the north-east of Oxford where I have worked as a voluntary warden over the last few years. The reserve has thrived since the RSPB acquired it in the 1990s and returned it from arable farming to its original state as a low-lying area of marshland along the River Ray (a tributary of the Thames). The presence of the reed bed at the centre of the reserve has allowed species such as bittern, common crane, grey heron and marsh harrier to nest here.