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West Oxfordshire Parishes

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Cherwell

South Oxfordshire

Vale of White Horse

West Oxfordshire

Districts - Landscape Types

Lew

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.

Lew 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

Lowland Village Farmlands

Site Code: 30D01

Area: 3.9 ha

Some plants are very closely associated with particular soil types and the gorse on this site indicates that the soil is acidic. Acidic habitats are rare in Oxfordshire and there are remnants of acid grassland at this site. This habitat is a national nature conservation priority. Characteristic wildflowers of this habitat found here include heath bedstraw and lesser stitchwort. Bracken, which is also typical of acidic soils, is also found here.

This site is very much a mixture of habitats. There is a large wet area with rushes and tall sedges. Wetland wildflowers such as greater bird’s-foot trefoil, gypsywort, bugle and yellow flag iris are present. Grey and goat willow form areas of willow scrub, known as carr, at the edge of the wet area. Part of the site is oak, ash and field maple woodland in which bluebells are established and the rare climbing corydalis is present in abundance. There is also some conifer plantation. Other areas have been recently replanted with oak, cherry and ash at the expense of the extensive blackthorn scrub that once covered much of the site.

Site Code: 30I05

Area: 5.1ha

This is an unusual site. It was selected for County Wildlife Site status because the meadows supported unimproved grassland that had not been ploughed and reseeded or treated with herbicides or fertilizers. However it has since been ploughed and used for arable crops and field boundaries removed to form a single large field.

However, it remained on the County Wildlife Sites system, and recent surveys have found that the field has been put into long term set aside, which means that it is no longer being used for crop production. The field is reverting to wet grassland and characteristic species, such as ragged robin, are present.