Oxfordshire in South East England has an area of 2,605 square kilometres and a population of 648,700.
In England, the body responsible for designating Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) is Natural England, which is responsible for protecting England's natural environment. Notification as an SSSI gives legal protection to the best sites for wildlife and geology.[1] As of 2020, there are 111 SSSIs in Oxfordshire, 78 of which have been designated for biological interest, 27 for geological interest, and 6 for both biological and geological interest.[2]
The quarry and railway cutting exposes rocks dating to the Bathonian stage of the Middle Jurassic, about 167 million years ago. It is described by Natural England as of national importance for the understanding of the Jurassic Period in Britain as it allows correlation of rocks of the Oxford area to be correlated with those of the Midlands. The site has calcareous grassland with diverse vertebrates, including the internationally protected great crested newt.[10]
This site is internationally important because it has trackways created by a herd of sauropod (herbivorous) dinosaurs, together with several carnivorous theropods, along a shoreline dating to the Middle Jurassic, around 165 million years ago. These are the only such trackways in England, and one of the few dating to the Middle Jurassic in the world. The tracks throw light on the behaviour and gait of the dinosaours.[13]
The site is adjacent to the River Ray and in its flood plain. It is old unimproved hay meadows which display medieval ridge and furrow features, showing that it has not been ploughed for centuries. It lies on Oxford Clay, and some areas are seasonally waterlogged. It has a wide variety of plants, including some rare ones, such as the nationally uncommon narrow-leaved water-dropwort, and the river bank also has unusual plants.[15]
This site has beech woodland, scrub and chalk grassland. Unusual plants in the ground flora include wood barley, and the orchids Violet and white helleborine. There are several uncommon species of beetles and moths, and fifty breeding bird species.[23]
This cutting provides the best exposure in central England dating to the Coniacian stage of the Late Cretaceous, approximately 88 million years ago. It is part of the Upper Chalk succession, and at its base there is a fossil rich section which is important in defining the boundary between the Coniacian and the preceding Turonian stage.[26]
The site is described by Natural England as "of national importance as a large, unfragmented area of ancient semi-natural woodland characteristic of the Chilterns scarp". Flora include 52 species indicative of ancient woods, and there are over 100 species of fungi.[32]
This site is a set of dry valleys in the Berkshire Downs. Most of it is chalk grassland which has a rich variety of flora and fauna, and there are also areas of mixed woodland and juniper scrub. Flora include the nationally uncommon wild candytuft and the only population in the county of the rare pasque flower.[35]
This site has ancient woods which are shown on a map of 1786, together with areas of grassy clearings and scrub. More than 500 species of vascular plant have been recorded, including 18 orchids and the rare meadow clary, which is listed in the British Red Data Book of Plants. There are more than 75 bird species and 650 fungi, including many which are nationally rare.[45]
Most Brasenose Wood is a remnant of the ancient Shotover Forest, and it is one of the few woods which is still managed by the traditional method of coppice-with-standards. It has a very diverse ground flora, and 221 species of vascular plant have been recorded, including 46 which are characteristic of ancient woodland. Shotover hill has heath and unimproved grassland. It is described by Natural England as "of outstanding entomological interest", with many rare flies, bees, wasps and ants.[52]
This narrow strip of cultivated land between a wood and a golf course is designated an SSSI because it has a population of the nationally rare broad-leaved cudweed, which has been recorded at less than ten sites in Britain and is listed in the British Red Data Book of Vascular Plants. This annual plant requires disturbance of the soil by ploughing in early to mid October.[54]
This hill has species-rich calcareous grassland, juniper scrub, which is an uncommon habitat, mixed scrub and woodland. More than 300 species of vascular plant have been recorded and 65 of birds. Many passerines breed in the scrub, and thrushes such as redwings and fieldfares feed on berries in the winter.[66]
This site has nationally rare calcareous fen and moss-rich mire habitats and a rich invertebrate fauna, including 25 species in the Red Data Book of Invertebrates. More than 330 vascular plants have been recorded. It is a nationally important site geologically because the sampling the peat gives a picture of the vegetation over the early Holocene, between 10,000 and 6,500 years ago.[74][75]
This former sand quarry exposes a sequence of limestone rocks laid down in shallow coastal waters during the Oxfordian stage of the Jurassic, around 160 million years ago. It has many fossil ammonites. It has diverse calcareous habitats, including fen, grassland, scrub and heath. It is nationally important entomologically, especially for bees and wasps.[84]
This traditionally managed meadow has diverse flora, such as the rare and declining snake's-head fritillary. Flowering plants in drier areas include saw-wort, dropwort, lady's bedstraw and betony. There are also ditches with interesting wetland flora and an ancient hedge with a variety of shrubs.[86]
Natural England describes the acid grassland, heathland and valley fens of this site as unique in southern England. Over 400 vascular plants have been recorded, including some which are nationally rare. There are unusual insects such as the wasp Microdynerus exilis, which was only recognised as native to Britain in the late twentieth century, the red data book of threatened species fly cheilosia mutabalis, and the nationally uncommon Epistrophe diaphana.[90]
This linear site runs along two stretches of the valley of the River Glyme, with the upper area encompassing the river's headwaters. The diverse habitats include the river, ponds, fen, marshy grassland, limestone grassland, scrub and wet woodland. There is a large colony of meadow clary, a rare species which is listed in the British Red Data Book of Vascular Plants. There are several badger setts.[93]
This site consists of three adjacent areas of unimproved chalk grassland, which are managed by close grazing. Warren Down and Gramp's Hill Down are dominated by upright brome, and most of Hackpen Down by red fescue. Eleven species of butterfly have been recorded, including chalkhill blue, brown argus and marbled white.[97]
This site on the east bank of the River Thames has diverse semi-natural habitats, including species-rich chalk downland, ancient yew woodland, semi-natural broadleaved woodland, riverside fen and scrub. Hartslock Wood is one of the sites listed in 1915 by Charles Rothschild, the founder of the Wildlife Trusts, as "worthy of preservation". The wood has a variety of tree species including beech and yew, and there is a large colony of badgers.[103][104]
The site exposes gravel from the abandoned channel of the River Thames before the Anglian ice age pushed the river south around 450,000 years ago. It may date to the late Anglian Black Park Terrace which would make it the latest known exposure of the gravel floor of the old channel, and therefore of considerable importance. It has revealed large quantities of Palaeolithic flints, which are some of the earliest of their type known.[107] It is described by Natural England as a "crucial site".[108]
This ancient wood was formerly part of Bernwood Forest, which was a medieval hunting forest. It is semi-natural coppice with standards, with fine oak standards of varying ages. It has a rich invertebrate fauna, including 27 species of butterfly, with uncommon species such as white admiral and purple emperor.[113]
Hook Norton Cutting is a nature reserve along two stretches of a disused railway line separated by a tunnel. Most of it is unimproved calcareous grassland with a rich variety of flora. The site is notable for its bee species, including one which has only been recorded at three other sites in the country, Andrena bucephala. The cutting exposes rocks dating to the Middle Jurassic, around 167 million years ago, which are the type section of the Hook Norton Member of the Chipping Norton Formation. Hook Norton Bank is a steeply sloping limestone grassland by the River Swere.[119]
The site is owned by All Souls College, Oxford,[125] and its mosses and liverworts have been monitored for more than fifty years. The hill is also important geologically. In 1879 a fossil of a Camptosaurus prestwichii, a large herbivorous dinosaur dating to the Upper Jurassic 143 million years ago, was found on the site.[126] The fossil belongs to a typically North African genus, and provides evidence of a land bridge across the proto-Atlantic in the Late Jurassic.[127]
These flood meadows between two arms of the River Thames are traditionally managed for hay and pasture. A large part of the site is on clay, and it is enriched by silt each year when it is flooded. There is a rich grassland flora, with the outstanding feature being 89,000 snake's head fritillaries, which produce purple flowers in the spring. There is a network of old river channels, ditches and overgrown hedges.[129][130]
This site consists of woodland on the sides of a minor road, which has approximately one tenth of the population in the country of a very rare plant, green hound's tongue. It is listed in the British Red Data Book of vascular plants, and it is found at only seven other locations in Britain. The species is often found in disturbed soils, and may have increased following the clearance of dead elm trees.[137]
Soil types in the wood vary from calcareous to very acid. The main trees are beech, and other trees include oak, ash and wych elm. The understorey in mainly bramble, and in some areas bracken.[141]
This site is composed of four adjoining unimproved meadows. One is used for hay while the rest are managed by cattle grazing. Two have prominent ridge and furrow dating to medieval farming practices. There are also extensive flushes and outcrops of limestone around the site of a former quarry.[144]
This site, which is managed by the Earth Trust, consists of woods, grassland, scrub and ponds on the slope of a hill next to the River Thames. Flora include the nationally scarce greater dodder, and there is a rich assemblage of amphibians, including one of the largest populations in the country of the great crested newt, which is a priority species of the Biodiversity action plan.[147]
The cutting exposes limestone and clay laid down in mid-Oxfordian stage of the Late Jurassic, around 160 million years ago. The deposit is part of the Stanford Formation, and the clay appears to have been deposited in a channel between coral reefs which then covered the Oxford area.[150][151]
This disused quarry exposes rocks dating to the Wheatley Limestone member of the Stanford Formation, approximately 160 million years ago during the Middle Jurassic. The deposits are limestones in an unstable reef substrate, and the only fossils are of oysters.[161]
This site exhibits sections dating to the Early Jurassic around 190 to 180 million years ago. Its Middle Lias sediments show that it was adjacent to the "London landmass", which was then an island. The Upper Lias have a section rich in fossil ammonites. Natural England describes the site as a "key palaeogeographic and stratigraphic locality".[174]
This site in the floodplain of the River Ray has herb-rich damp grassland, wet sedge, coarse grassland, woodland, pools and ditches. More than sixty species of bird breed on the site, such as curlew and lapwing, while wintering birds include teal, wigeon, snipe, golden plover and short-eared owl.[178]
These semi-natural woods have a rich ground flora, including 35 species associated with ancient woodland. The southern part is dominated by beech and oak coppice, whereas the north, which has been managed as high forest, has mainly mature beech trees, with smaller numbers of oak, ash, cherry, whitebeam, yew and wych elm. The southern part is common land.[182]
These are unimproved flood meadows on the bank of the River Thames. Their management is very well recorded, and it is known that they have been grazed and cut for hay for more than a thousand years, with the result that they are botanically rich, with more than 150 species. The site has been the subject of detailed botanical and hydrological research.[185]
This site consists of meadows in the floodplain of the River Thames. It is thought to have been grazed for over a thousand years and is a classic site for studying the effects of grazing on flora. There is a low diversity compared with neighbouring fields which are cut for hay, but 178 flowering plants have been recorded, including creeping marshwort, which is a Red Data Book species not found anywhere else in Britain.[188]
This site exposes limestone rich in coral called Coral rag, laid down when the area was under a warm, shallow sea, similar to the Bahama Banks today. It is rich in fossils derived from the coral reefs. It dates to the Upper Jurassic, around 145 million years ago.[196]
This is a stretch of an ancient track together with its species-rich grass verges and hedges. It has been designated an SSSI because it has the largest known British colony of the very rare downy woundwort, with more than 100 seedlings and 60 flowering stems. The plant is associated with hedges along Roman roads and ancient tracks on calcareous soils, and Salt Way may date to the Roman period.[201]
This steeply sloping site is species-rich grassland which is traditionally managed. An ancient hedge runs the length of the site and a small stream runs along the downward side. Flora include five species of orchid, including bee, pyramidal and green-winged.[209]
This site exposes rocks of the Corallian Group, dating to the Oxfordian stage of the Late Jurassic, around 160 million years ago. It has many fossils of corals and reef-dwelling bivalves, and it is also important as it provides an example of the complexity of Oxfordian stratigraphy.[212]
This site exposes a lithostratigraphic succession dating to the Bathonian stage of the Middle Jurassic, around 167 million years ago. Shipton-on-Cherwell Quarry is described by Natural England as "of international importance as one of the best Upper Bathonian reptile sites known", and it has yielded type material for two species of crocodile. The quarry has also produced the type specimen of the dinosaur Dacentrurus vetustus.[216]
The hill has chalk grassland, chalk heath, scrub and broadleaved woodland. Most grasslands in the Chilterns are maintained by stock, and the site is unusual in being cropped only by rabbits. Less closely grazed areas have taller grass with species such as false oat-grass, tor-grass and red fescue. There are large areas of hawthorn and buckthorn scrub.[218]
This site is composed of steeply sloping valleys and banks. Most of it is unimproved limestone grassland and scrub, but there is also an area of semi-natural ancient woodland. The grass in Stonesfield Common is mainly upright brome, and herbs include field scabious, greater knapweed, lady's bedstraw and pyramidal orchid.[227]
This site dates to the Cromerian Stage, an interglacial over half a million years ago. It is a river channel cut into Kimmeridge Clay of the Late Jurassic, and it has rich deposits of vertebrates, ostracods, molluscs, beetles, plant remains and pollen.[240]
This wood has been designated an SSSI because it contains a diverse and important insect fauna, with many nationally uncommon and rare species. There are nineteen species of nationally uncommon hoverflies, including five which are listed in the British Red Data Book of Insects, many nationally uncommon beetles, thirty butterfly species and several rare moths.[252]
This site has floristically diverse chalk grassland, chalk scrub, broadleaved woodland and yew woodland. Watlington Hill has short turf which is grazed by rabbits, with flowering plants including yellow-wort, dropwort, horseshoe vetch, squinancywort and the nationally rare candytuft.[255]
Wendlebury Meads consists of several meadows which have been traditionally managed, and have complex and varied flora. It is one of the few Calcareous pastures to have survived agricultural improvements. Almost all show evidence of medieval ridge and furrow ploughing. Mansmoor Closes were enclosed before 1622, and are important from both a landscape and archaeological point of view. More than 160 plant species have been recorded on the site.[258]
These ancient woods are part of two former royal forests, Shotover and Bernwood. They are crossed by herb-rich and grassy rides, some of which are bordered by ditches, and there is also a pond and a marsh. Twenty-four species of butterfly have been recorded including the nationally rare black hairstreak.[264]
This dry valley provides evidence of solifluction (slow sloping downhill due to repeated freezing and thawing) during at least one cold stage of the Pleistocene. The site has unimproved chalk grassland with a rich variety of flora, particularly in former chalk quarries. Grasses include upright brome and sheep’s fescue.[269]
These meadows next to the River Thames are traditionally managed for pasture and hay, and they have a rich flora. The largest, which is called Great Baynham's Meadow, is used as pasture, and the other fields are managed for hay with grazing in the autumn. There are also watercourses which have many dragonflies.[274]
This site exposes a sequence of rocks dating to the Middle Jurassic around 167 million years ago. It exhibits one of the most complete Bathonian sections in the county, and is described by Natural England as "of great palaeontological and sedimentological interest".[277]
The site has chalk grassland which is rich in both plant and invertebrate species which have sharply declined nationally. Flowers include bee and fly orchids, the latter of which is becoming scarce. Invertebrates include a variety of butterflies, harvest spiders and slowworms.[281]
This remnant of a large royal hunting forest is the largest area of ancient broadleaved forest in the county, and the site also has limestone grassland and four marl lakes. More than 360 species of flowering plants and ferns have been recorded, together with 85 lichens and 60 mosses and liverworts. The invertebrate fauna is diverse, including 17 rare flies.[287]
Habitats in this site, which formerly belonged to Abingdon Abbey, include ancient woodland and limestone grassland. Over 500 species of vascular plant have been recorded, and more data about the bird, mammal and invertebrate fauna, have probably been recorded about this site than any other in the country as a result of studies by Oxford University. More than 900 species of beetles, 580 of flies, 200 of spiders, 700 of bees, wasps and ant, 250 of true bugs and 27 of earthworms have been recorded.[291]
^"Aston Rowant citation"(PDF). Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Archived(PDF) from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 4 January 2016.
^"Aston Rowant". Joint Nature Conservation Committee. Archived from the original on 16 March 2016. Retrieved 25 February 2016.
^"Cumnor (Oxfordian)". Geological Conservation Review. Joint Nature Conservation Committee. Archived from the original on August 8, 2019. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
^"Dry Sandford Pit". Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust. Retrieved 18 February 2016.
^"Dry Sandford Pit (Oxfordian)". Geological Conservation Review. Joint Nature Conservation Committee. Archived from the original on August 8, 2019. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
^"Dry Sandford Pit citation"(PDF). Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
^"Hook Norton Cutting". Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust. Retrieved 18 February 2016.
^"Hook Norton (Bathonian)". Geological Conservation Review. Joint Nature Conservation Committee. Archived from the original on August 8, 2019. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
^"Horsehay Quarry (Bathonian)". Geological Conservation Review. Joint Nature Conservation Committee. Archived from the original on August 8, 2019. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
^"Lamb & Flag (Oxfordian)". Geological Conservation Review. Joint Nature Conservation Committee. Archived from the original on August 8, 2019. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
^"Littlemore (Oxfordian)". Geological Conservation Review. Joint Nature Conservation Committee. Archived from the original on August 8, 2019. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
^"Lyehill (Oxfordian)". Geological Conservation Review. Joint Nature Conservation Committee. Archived from the original on August 8, 2019. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
^"Lyehill Quarry citation"(PDF). Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
^"Magdalen Pit (Oxfordian)". Geological Conservation Review. Joint Nature Conservation Committee. Archived from the original on August 8, 2019. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
^"Sharps Hill (Bathonian)". Geological Conservation Review. Joint Nature Conservation Committee. Archived from the original on 3 June 2020. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
^"Stonesfield (Bathonian)". Geological Conservation Review. Joint Nature Conservation Committee. Archived from the original on August 8, 2019. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
^"Stratton Audley (Bathonian)". Geological Conservation Review. Joint Nature Conservation Committee. Archived from the original on August 8, 2019. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
^"The Manger (Karst)". Geological Conservation Review. Joint Nature Conservation Committee. Archived from the original on August 8, 2019. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
^"Woodeaton (Bathonian)". Geological Conservation Review. Joint Nature Conservation Committee. Archived from the original on August 8, 2019. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
^"Woodeaton Quarry citation"(PDF). Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
^"Wormsley Chalk Banks citation"(PDF). Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Archived(PDF) from the original on 15 February 2016. Retrieved 11 February 2016.
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
_immature_male.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
_male.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1440042.jpg)
.jpg)
