Districts:

Cherwell Parishes

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Cherwell

South Oxfordshire

Vale of White Horse

West Oxfordshire

Districts - Landscape Types

Charlton-on-Otmoor

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.

Charlton-on-Otmoor Image Map

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

Alluvial Lowlands

Site Code: 51T01

Area: 73.2 ha

Wendlebury Meads and Mansmoor Closes SSSI

Wendlebury Meads and Mansmoor Closes is a large group of meadows that have largely escaped agricultural improvement through the use of herbicides and fertilizers or through ploughing and reseeding. This means they have an exceptionally rich meadowland flora. A few of the smaller Mansmoor Close fields have had some fertilizer applied at times but good remnants of the richer meadow flora remain. When this is the case the grassland is described as semi-improved. Meadows such as this are a national priority for nature conservation. Many of the fields have ridges and furrows which are a sign of medieval ploughing but also of a long period without disturbance. Ridge and furrow is an important historical landscape feature.

A great range of meadow wildflowers are found here. These include green-winged orchids, devil’s-bit scabious, betony, cowslip, dyer’s greenweed and great burnet. In the wetter furrows ragged robin can be seen. The grassland is very rich in small sedges. Some of the hedgerows that divide the fields are species rich especially the one that forms a parish boundary.