Districts:

West Oxfordshire Parishes

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Cherwell

South Oxfordshire

Vale of White Horse

West Oxfordshire

Districts - Landscape Types

Little Faringdon

This map highlights the landscape types within the parish you selected, and its associated local character areas. You can click on any area of the map for a description of its landscape character and biodiversity. Please note that local character areas can cover large areas of the countryside, and may include several parishes, so the description may not be specific to this parish. If there are any wildlife habitats within the parish their descriptions can be found by scrolling to the bottom of this page.

The following wildlife habitats fall within this parish. They are listed according to their associated landscape type or local character area.

If you want more information about any of the sites of special scientific interest (SSSIs) listed below, take a look at English Nature's Nature on the Map website. It may also be possible to find out a bit more about the unnamed wildlife habitats in the parish by contacting the Thames Valley Environmental Records Centre (gavin.bird@oxfordshire.gov.uk) and quoting the site code next to the habitat description.

The majority of these wildlife habitats are on private land and access to them is not possible without permission of the landowner, unless there is a statutory right of way. However, many wildlife habitats in the county are open to the public. More information on these can be obtained from the Oxfordshire Nature Conservation Forum.

Wildlife Habitats

River Meadowlands

Site Code: 20A01

Area: 20.1 ha

This site is a pit where gravel was extracted until the early 1980s. Since then wetland plants and willows have colonised the edges while aquatic plants and insects have colonised the water. Around the lake, grassland has developed.

The gravel pit is particularly important for birds especially for overwintering wildfowl but also for nesting birds. These include species that have been classified as being of conservation concern due to the decline in their populations. Pochard, wigeon, gadwall, teal, pintail, shoveler, goldeneye and scaup have been seen here in the winter. Other birds recorded include kingfisher, lapwing, grey wagtail and linnet.

Colourful wetland wildflowers grow at the edge including purple loosestrife, yellow loosestrife, water mint and meadowsweet in amongst patches of rushes, sedges and reeds. Among the insects recorded are a nationally scarce beetle and the nationally scarce scarlet tiger moth.