Districts:
West Oxfordshire Parishes
Crawley
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 (owls@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: 21V01/8
Area: 8.2 ha
This is one of the richest flower meadows in Oxfordshire. The site has many of the wildflowers that you would expect to see wet species-rich hay meadow and it also has wildflowers associated with fens. The presence of these fen plants suggests that the soils are quite peaty in places. Meadows such as this are a national priority for nature conservation.
Wildflowers that can be seen here include an abundance of yellow rattle along with early marsh orchid, ragged robin and marsh marigold. The fen-like nature of the field is indicated by the high abundance and variety of small sedges including some sedges that are rarely seen and by the presence of cottongrass and wildflowers such as marsh valerian, marsh pennywort, fen bedstraw, spike rushes and marsh arrowgrass. Yellow loosestrife is present in an old reedgrass-filled ditch that crosses the meadow.