Iffley Meadows in Oxon Is Renowned for Its Snake’S-Head Fritillaries Which Appear Only During the Spring

KEY TO RESERVE MAPS HOW TO USE THIS BOOK

CATEGORIES OF NATURE RESERVES Bridleway ■ The purple, green and orange side tabs tell you about the site based on ease of Public footpath getting there and around, and of the variety of wildlife interest. Permissive footpath ■ Purple sites represent our ‘best wildlife experiences’ and provide a wonderful visit Berkshire, Buckinghamshire all year round. Green and orange reserves may be smaller or harder to get to, or Wildlife Walk & Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust have interest at specific times of year. For example, Iffley Meadows in Oxon is renowned for its snake’s-head fritillaries which appear only during the spring. } The Lodge Main entrance 1 Armstrong Road Littlemore GETTING THERE INFORMATION Other entrances Oxford OX4 4XT ■ A ‘getting there’ box for each reserve includes a road map and location notes, with Visitor Centre Tel: 01865 775476 information about parking and public transport, along with the sheet number for Bird hide www.bbowt.org.uk the 1:50,000 Ordance Survey map and the National Grid reference to aid your Information journey. Wherever possible we have included postcodes for satellite navigation Registered charity number 204330 users and a web link to a Google map pin-pointed with each of our nature Access for people reserves. To find out more about using grid references, see the back cover flap. with disabilities ■ Please help us to halt climate change by using public transport to our reserves Parking The Berks, Bucks & Oxon Wildlife where possible and cutting down carbon emissions. Trust owns or manages over 80 All reserve maps are orientated north, with a scale of nature reserves across the three Open flap to see map 1 cm to 100 m. counties. USING GRID REFERENCES This handbook is aimed at giving KEY TO FACILITIES SYMBOLS The Trust has reserves located on the following Ordnance Survey Landranger series maps: you the best possible all-round Great for families Grazing livestock No 151: Stratford-upon-Avon experience of visiting these nature No 152: Northampton and Milton Keynes Picnic table No 163: Cheltenham and Cirencester reserves. Features include: No 164: Oxford Visitor centre No 165: Aylesbury and Leighton Buzzard ■ vibrant aerial photomaps Hide from which to watch wildlife No 174: Newbury and Wantage ■ colour-coded based on wildlife No 175: Reading and Windsor Information panel No 176: West London. interest ■ best time to visit Marked nature trail (called Wildlife Walk). The length of these circular walks is given For each reserve the sheet number for the 1:50,000 Ordnance Survey Landranger map plus the National Grid ■ location notes to help you get in the ‘Things to do’ information. Reference for the main entrance are given to assist you in finding the site. there. If you are unfamiliar with the Grid Reference system it is explained below. BEST TIME TO VISIT Example: Chinnor Hill ■ Seasonal tabs indicate the best time of year to visit the reserve and some of the OS map 165; Grid reference SP 766 002 SP – Britain has been divided up into a grid system of 100 km by 100 km squares. Each square is given two letters, wildlife that may be seen. Where a reserve is only at its best for a 76 77 78 e.g. SP, SU. These tell you which square you are in. They will short period during the year, only the relevant seasonal tabs are displayed. 01 usually appear on an Ordnance Survey map’s perimeter. 766 002 – This six figure number is divided into two KEY TO RESERVE MAPS groups of three numbers. The first set of three, 766 really means 76 and 6 tenths. Follow the numbers across the See back cover flap for details. bottom or top of the map until you find the number 76, SP then go 6 tenths of a square further to the right and stop. Put your finger on this point. ISBN 1-874357-50-6 00 The second set of three numbers 002, refers to the SU numbers running up the sides of the map. 002 means 00 and 2 tenths. Follow the numbers up the sides until you find the number 00, then go 2 tenths of a square further up and stop. Put your finger on this point. Then move your fingers up or down and across from these points until they meet. The location of the reserve entrance is 99 within this 100 m × 100 m grid square. For more detailed information on how to use this book turn to page 6.

Protecting Wildlife for the Future

COVER.pmd 1 12/13/2011, 10:49 AM 2 BBOWT’S SEASONAL HIGHLIGHTS AT A GLANCE

Getting out there Where to go for Wildlife is designed to help you make the most of your visits so that you can enjoy a few hours, or a great day out, in the wild.

Where do I start? key to seeing and enjoying wildlife is to If you are planning your first visit we wait – and look, and listen – and let the recommend that you head to Bowdown wildlife come to you. Why not switch off Woods in Berks, College Lake in Bucks, or your mobile phone, be still and silent for a Warburg Nature Reserve in Oxon. Both few minutes and tune into the sounds, College Lake and Warburg have sights and smells around you. This will help information centres, picnic areas, wildlife you to see and experience more wildlife. gardens and lots more. You will find these The more return visits you make, the more three reserves at the beginning of this likely you are to have a truly memorable handbook. If you are looking for other wildlife encounter; perhaps you’ll hear the nature reserves, why not work your way haunting call of a curlew, or glimpse a white through the rest of our best wildlife admiral butterfly gliding by. experiences? Many of our reserves have clearly marked Your first visit circular Wildlife Walks and information If you are new to wildlife, going to a nature panels along the way. Our hides can make reserve for the first time can fall short of watching birds and other wildlife easier still expectations. You may walk for 20 minutes and often these have identification charts before you encounter anything at all. The to help.

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Useful kit to bring a quick guide to help you enjoy these wild ✔✔✔ Wear sturdy shoes and sensible places at their most glorious. clothing for the weather conditions. ✔✔✔ Take a pair of binoculars to see wildlife There’s nothing better than knowing in the trees or across the lake. “ your local ‘patch’. Pick a nature ✔✔✔ If you are visiting with children, pack reserve near to you and make it your paper and pencils and get them to jot own. You’ll see so much as the down what they see. seasons change and the relationship ✔✔✔ Bring this handbook with you, as not just keeps getting deeper. all Trust reserves have signs or leaflets to ” guide visitors around. Giles Strother, BBOWT

What next? You are making a difference Some of our nature reserves are superb at a The rich mix of wildlife on Trust nature particular time of year; you will find these in reserves is thanks to your continued support. the seasonal spectacles section. Or perhaps Without you these precious fragments that you would like to be able to walk or cycle to were once widespread throughout Britain a wild place even closer to home. Our nature would be lost from our countryside, and with reserves under the heading local treasures them the many communities of plants and are well worth visiting if you live near by. animals that need them to survive and thrive.

Wildlife not to miss! To find out how we care for these special From wildflower meadows to stunning places go to page 164, for a look ‘Behind the autumn woodlands, each season has its scenes’ at our busy conservation wildlife highlights. On page four you will find programme.

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Bowdown.p65 10 12/8/2011, 12:14 PM Westpart Berkshire of the TOP LEFT TO RIGHT Black-headed cardinal beetle, Family Discovery Day, Solomon’s-seal Living Landscape area11 Bowdown Woods

Mysterious hidden valleys, sunny glades and patches of heathland hold a wealth of wildlife in this expanse of ancient woodland

A special landscape for all. Bowdown and Bowdown Woods all have a car park and Woods is a great place to enjoy wildlife circular Wildlife Walk suitable for all ages throughout the year. Stretching from the and abilities. vast heathland at Greenham Common down to the River Kennet, this reserve forms part From bomb site to wildlife haven. The of a landscape especially rich in wildlife. Bomb Site is so named because it was an Habitats include ancient woodland, ammunition store during and after the heathland, butterfly glades, streams and Second World War. It is a great example of ponds. Bowdown Woods is actually a cluster how nature can thrive and develop on a site of three woods and each one is different in vacated by people. Many old surfaced tracks character. The three sites: Bomb Site, Baynes create a network through the young birch

Best time to visit

STATUS SSSI SPRING ✔ SUMMER ✔

PLANTS Primrose, bluebell, PLANTS Foxglove, heathers, opposite- and alternate-leaved dwarf gorse, yellow pimpernel, golden-saxifrages, moschatel, marsh thistle marsh-marigold, yellow INSECTS Brown argus, small archangel, herb-paris, Solomon’s- copper, silver-washed fritillary, WINTER ✔ seal, early-purple orchid white admiral (below) and AUTUMN ✔ INSECTS Butterflies, beetles, grayling butterflies, moths, MOSSES & LIVERWORTS Fairy beads, hoverflies dragonflies and damselflies, FUNGI Woodland fungi Lyell’s, elegant and smooth AMPHIBIANS Newts, frog black-headed cardinal beetle, including boletes, brittlegills, bristle-mosses, frizzled REPTILES Adder, grass snake, slow- shieldbugs, hoverflies milkcaps, turkeytail, sulphur pincushion worm, common lizard (below) BIRDS Warblers, woodpeckers knight, fly agaric, snakeskin BIRDS Woodpeckers, tits (below) BIRDS Woodpeckers, nuthatch, MAMMALS Pipistrelle and brown grisette, pipe club, elfin saddle and thrushes woodcock, sparrowhawk long-eared bats MAMMALS Dormouse (below)

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and oak woodland that has colonised the with bird song. Listen for the drumming of site. These flat tracks are ideal for less the great spotted and lesser spotted mobile visitors and are gradually being woodpeckers. Sparrowhawks may be engulfed by nature. Young trees, plants and occasionally glimpsed. fungi now live on many of the old wartime structures. Demolished buildings provide In summer over 30 species of butterfly have basking and hiding places for reptiles such been seen here and in the sunny glades you as adder, grass snake and common lizard, may spot the spectacular silver-washed whilst dragonflies hunt by the woodland fritillary or the handsome white admiral. The edge. Areas of heathland dominated by open well-drained ground is dominated by heather, bracken and wood sage can be remnants of heathland with swathes of seen from the tracks. These areas have been heather and bracken. extended to benefit reptiles, as well as butterflies including grayling and the small These woodlands are well worth a visit later copper. in the year to experience the wonderful autumn colour and incredible fungi. Diverse ancient woodlands. Baynes and Sulphur knight, inkstain bolete, and Bowdown Woods offer a more shady porcelain fungus are just a few of the more woodland experience. A series of small striking species you are likely to find. Look streams trickle through these undulating out for the pipe club, spectacular in its woodlands that slope gently down strangeness, with long, thin stems like towards the River Kennet. As you walk breadsticks rising up from the ground, or the through the network of wooded valleys, you rare snakeskin grisette growing in the valley will notice changes in the woodland flora bottom; it has a large yellowish cap with corresponding with changing geology and grey, felty patches sitting on a stem microclimate. The wet valleys support large resembling snakeskin. areas of alder and willow with splashes of opposite-leaved golden-saxifrage where Ponds and streams. Fifteen species of springs emerge, while the dry ridges are dragonfly and damselfly have been spotted characterised by towering oak and ash. Look on the reserve. The shallow streams and out for badger tracks in the heavy clay soil ponds provide breeding habitats and the which is rich with ancient woodland plants plentiful insect life provides prey to eat. such as early-purple orchid, greater Ponds are also home to newts as well as stitchwort and yellow pimpernel creeping frogs and toads. Giant six-foot tall marsh along the woodland floor. In spring the thistles attract bees and butterflies around woodland is awash with bluebells and alive the damp edges.

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A living landscape. Bowdown Woods is part of BBOWT’s West Berkshire Living Landscape Project. This project aims to create an expanse of interconnected habitats, allowing nature to live, not trapped in small pockets but able to move through linked areas under land management sympathetic to nature. (Go to page 172 for more information.)

Wonderful to see how an old army base “ can become a wildlife haven under the Trust’s care.” There’s so much variety; we come to “ Bowdown regularly and join the guided walks – they’re really interesting. BBOWT” members

Volunteering gives me the chance to “ learn new things – heathland restoration, making hibernacula for adders and identifying moths. And I enjoy meeting other volunteers and just being in Bowdown Woods. ”Bowdown volunteer

PICTURES CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT Golden-ringed dragonfly, greater stitchwort, sparrowhawk, autumn colour at Bowdown, pipe club fungus

Bowdown.p65 13 12/8/2011, 12:14 PM 98 SEASONAL SPECTACLES Iffley Meadows

The sight of thousands of purple- and-white chequered snake’s- head fritillaries at these ancient wet meadows will take your breath away

Precious meadows. These wet meadows wonderful wildlife spectacle where you can crossed by old river channels with willow- enjoy Oxfordshire’s iconic flower, the snake’s- lined ditches have a rich diversity of wildlife head fritillary, in bloom in its natural typical of old, unspoilt meadow land. They surroundings. Before BBOWT took over were once a widespread feature of our river management of the nature reserve in 1983, systems but many have been lost to drainage a mere 500 snake’s-head fritillaries could be and farming. In spring, the blooms of found. As a result of BBOWT’s careful cuckooflower mark the start of a colourful management of the site and controlled sequence of wild flowers in the meadows. grazing, numbers of the flower have shot up The orange-tip butterfly can be seen to over 76,000 in 2011 – a huge success fluttering from flower to flower laying its story. eggs. Later, the yellow of buttercups and the reds and purples of great burnet and Rich ditches. Several species of dragonfly knapweed come to the fore. and damselfly patrol the vegetated ditches during the summer. Warblers can be heard Flourishing fritillaries. Few people realise chattering in the reeds – Cetti’s warbler can that each April Iffley Meadows plays host to a be distinguished by its loud, ‘explosive’ song.

Best time to visit

STATUS SSSI SPRING ✔ SUMMER ✔

PLANTS Adder’s-tongue fern, PLANTS Great burnet, common cuckooflower, marsh-marigold meadow-rue, pepper-saxifrage, (below), ragged-robin, cowslip, meadow vetchling, sneezewort snake’s-head fritillary, early INSECTS Dragonflies and Abin marsh-orchid damselflies including banded INSECTS Orange-tip butterfly demoiselle (below) BIRDS Reed bunting BIRDS Cetti’s and sedge warblers

WINTER AUTUMN

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Oxford Centre (1) Meadow La A4158 Oxford B4495 (1½) Donnington Bridge A4144 Road

Iffley Ring Road A34 A423(T) A4142

½ mile Henley A4074 GETTING THERE

Meadow Lane Iffley Meadows FACILITIES NEAREST TOWN Oxford and centre Oxford OS SHEET 164; SP 525 036 POSTCODE OX4 4BL www.bbowt.org.uk/reserves/iffley-meadows B4495 Donnington Bridge Road LOCATION Oxford. Take A4144 (Abingdon Road) from Oxford centre or ring road; turn at B4495 (Donnington Bridge City Centre Oxford Road); park in Meadow Lane on right after bridge; cross back over bridge; take ramp down to towpath; reserve is on right. Street parking, 300 m. Oxford + / 1½ miles; or from Oxford centre. GETTING AROUND SIZE 33 ha (81.5 acres) Flat overall; rough underfoot in places, wet patches all year; kissing gates and gates, 30-m 1 in 4 ramp from road to towpath. NEARBY The Isis Farmhouse (refreshments). The Isis Abingdon Road Farmhouse

A4144 Iffley Things to do Lock ■ See the snake’s-head fritillaries in bloom in early April.

A423 Annual fritillary count River Thames River

Abingdon

0 100 200 metres Thames Path

Ring RoadCowley (A423)

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Protecting Wildlife for the Future

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