Oxfordshire Local Wildlife Sites Highlights 2023

This last year we carried out surveys of 39 existing and proposed Local Wildlife Sites in Oxfordshire. Over 5700 species records have been added to the database. Thanks to our volunteers, this year’s fieldwork also included woodland and calcareous grassland surveys in South Oxfordshire, and invertebrate recording at a site southwest of Oxford. Many thanks to all those involved.

Survey highlights included visits to a long-disused quarry site in northwest Oxfordshire, two ancient woodlands and Dean Common, which is a Wychwood Forest Trust Reserve.

Quarry Site

This long-disused quarry has a mosaic of open calcareous grassland, rougher grassland and scrub. Open areas include steep slopes and cliffs with areas of bare rock and patches with thin soils and rich calcareous grassland flora locally dominated by forbs including Mouse-ear hawkweed, Perforate St. John’s-wort, Rough hawkbit, Salad burnet, Common centaury, Black knapweed, Dwarf thistle, Wild basil, Common bird’s-foot-trefoil, Black medick, Basil thyme, Eyebright, Viper’s bugloss, Pyramidal orchid, Blue fleabane, Lady’s bedstraw, Greater knapweed, Woolly thistle, Field scabious, Hoary plantain, Wild strawberry and Red clover. The site provides valuable habitat for invertebrates including butterflies and bees.

Dean Common

Dean Common is the site of a former sand and gravel quarry that has been restored with planting of broadleaved woodland and a large pond. Open parts of the site have a topographically varied ex-quarry surface with banks, small wet depressions and ponds. Steep, bare sandy areas on the old spoil heaps are used by solitary bees. It has thin, dry soils that support a variety of annuals and other low-growing species such as Field madder, Black medick, Wild strawberry, Eyebright, Mouse-ear hawkweed, Cowslip, Common birds’-foot-trefoil and Thyme-leaved sandwort. There is also Blue fleabane, Common spotted orchid, Pyramidal orchid, Lady’s bedstraw, Viper’s bugloss, Red bartsia, Black knapweed, Agrimony, Perforate St. John’s-wort and Betony. The fine mosaic of habitat provides a wide range of small-scale niches that offer valuable habitat for a range of invertebrates. Areas of woodland, scrub and the thick boundary hedges provide good habitat for birds.

Ancient Woodland South of Oxford

The ancient woodland we visited to the south of Oxford was another highlight. It is lowland mixed deciduous woodland with a canopy of Oak and Ash. There are areas of Hazel coppice and other understory shrubs include Hawthorn, English elm, Field maple, Holly, Crab apple, Spindle and Dogwood. The ground flora is very rich with abundant Wood anemone and Bluebell. Other species include Dog’s mercury, Wood speedwell, Pignut, Honeysuckle, Wood melick, Moschatel, Greater stitchwort, Early dog violet and Yellow archangel. There are also small amounts of Wood spurge and Early purple orchid, and several patches of the uncommon species Thin-spiked wood sedge along the rides. The site provides valuable habitat for lower plants and notable butterfly species recorded here include Purple emperor, White admiral and Silver-washed fritillary.

Another ancient woodland site visited in South Oxfordshire includes a wide damp grassland ride which supports a population of Water avens. This is a scarce plant in Oxfordshire and found in damp habitats such as wet meadows, riversides and wet woodland. The site has a good range of ancient woodland indicator plants including Wood anemone, Goldilocks buttercup, Primrose, Barren strawberry, Wood spurge, Yellow archangel, Early dog-violet, Wood melick and Bluebell. The woodland canopy is dominated by Pedunculate oak and Ash and the shrub layer is mostly Hawthorn with varying amounts of Hazel and Field maple, and smaller amounts of Midland hawthorn, Holly, Wild privet and Crab apple. A welcome sight of Brown hare at the woodland margins on two occasions was a survey highlight.