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Vale of White Horse Parishes

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Cherwell

South Oxfordshire

Vale of White Horse

West Oxfordshire

Districts - Landscape Types

Radley

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.

Radley 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

River Meadowlands

Site Code: 59J01/2

This site consists of an old river channel and the surrounding wooded banks. Cetti’s warbler nests here. This bird breeds rarely in the UK although numbers have been increasing.

Wooded Estatelands

Site code: 50A01

Area: 0.6ha

Sugworth SSSI

This site includes a cutting along the A34 where valuable geological features have been recognised which are important in the understanding of geological history. The interglacial deposits found here are rare inland and include fossils of animals and plant remains from the time they were laid down.

Site Code: 50F04

Area: 3ha

This site is a small ancient woodland which means it has been continuously wooded for at least 400 years. The wood has the typical composition of old woodland with oak trees, including some very old specimens and a rich shrub layer with much hazel coppice*. Such woodland is a national priority for nature conservation.

The wood is rich in woodland wildflowers including carpet of bluebells, wood anemone, primrose and yellow archangel. The wood white butterfly, which is uncommon in Oxfordshire, has been seen here quite recently.

*Coppicing is a traditional form of management where small multi-stemmed trees and shrubs are cut down to the ground at regular intervals producing a harvest of small branches.

Site Code: 50F05

Area: 22ha

This site is ancient woodland which means it has been continuously wooded for at least 400 years although part of the original woodland was lost due to development. The remaining wood has the typical composition of old woodland with oak trees and a rich shrub layer that includes much hazel coppice*. There is also some ash coppice and aspen is abundant in places. Such woodland is a national priority for nature conservation.

The wood is rich in woodland wildflowers including a great abundance of wood anemone as well as bluebells, the uncommon herb Paris, twayblade, which is a green flowered orchid, pignut and primrose. There is an unusually rich variety of mosses and liverworts including one rare species.

*Coppicing is a traditional form of management where small multi-stemmed trees and shrubs are cut down to the ground at regular intervals producing a harvest of small branches.