Last weekend I was privileged to witness one of nature’s most awe-inspiring spectacles: flocks of starlings as they come together at sunset to roost in Otmoor’s reedbeds are a truly mesmerising sight.

For about half an hour new arrivals joined the ever-growing flock of dark birds as they swerved and swooped in bands across the sky, already streaked pink and orange from the setting sun. At one point around 50,000 birds were flowing in unison like a single plume of black smoke. A few sparrowhawks tried to pick out a target from the mass, but the starlings confused them.

Then suddenly, on some unknown cue, the vast black plume of birds poured into the reeds like water from a spout and the sky was empty. All I could hear was an ethereal and diminishing chatter and twittering as the birds settled down into their roosts for the night. It was an experience that no cutting-edge computer graphics could hope to match.

Natural spectacles like this are unusual in Oxfordshire, but in July I was lucky enough to watch the extraordinary aerobatics of iridescently coloured damselflies and dragonflies darting sideways, backwards and forwards across the ponds and streams in Cothill Fen, their lacy wings shimmering in the sunshine.

For the last three years BBOWT has managed a project across the Cothill Fen reserves, including Dry Sandford Pit, Lashford Lane Fen and Parsonage Moor, to restore the fragile fenland habitats. These marshes and reed beds are fed by alkaline ground water, and they are now very rare across Europe because so many have been drained for agriculture. The Cothill Fen, part of which was identified 100 years ago by Sir Charles Rothschild as worthy of protection because of its unusual insects, is now an internationally protected Special Area of Conservation.

Under the auspices of the Cothill Fen project, dedicated teams of local volunteers removed scrub, cut reeds, opened channels and put up fencing so we could introduce cattle and ponies to graze the tussocky grasses.

The project recently won an environmental award from the Oxford Preservation Trust, testament to the fact that Oxfordshire’s unique natural heritage is just as worthy of conservation as our built environment. One of our biggest achievements of 2012 was the successful appeal to buy Upper Common and extend Chimney Meadows nature reserve. We had just six weeks to raise £97,000 and through astonishing public generosity we reached the target in only four weeks. Chimney Meadows, a nationally important reserve, now covers more than 260 hectares of colourful, wildflower-rich flood meadows that support a treasure trove of wildlife including otters, water voles and the ghostly barn owl. This habitat has been all but lost from our landscape, with over 95 per cent destroyed since the Second World War. Biodiversity aside, the chaos wreaked on people’s homes and businesses by recent heavy rains is a timely reminder that Oxfordshire needs flood meadows to absorb overflowing streams and rivers.

Listening to those chattering starlings nestling down in the Otmoor reeds, I remarked that 30 years ago there would have been millions of them. But when did you last see a starling in the garden? The decline of this once common garden bird will be echoed by much of our native wildlife if the value of the natural environment is ignored. It is very heartening to see how much people do value wild places like Chimney Meadows and Cothill Fen, and the creatures they support. The challenge for 2013 and beyond is to continue to restore and reconnect those wild places so that our region’s wildlife can flourish and we can all be amazed by starlings, damselflies and wildflower meadows.