OXFORDSHIRE DELIGHTS

During my time in Oxfordshire, I have spent my evenings exploring the county and have observed a variety of different species on my travels.

Only being a few miles away from my hotel, I have spent a lot of my time at Cothill Fen, which is the largest area of alkaline fen in central England, and is designated as a Special Area of Conservation (SAC). As part of this, the nature reserves at Dry Sandford Pit, Parsonage Moor and Lashford Lane are a nationally important collection of wildlife sites. Cothill Fen supports many species that depend on the fen and are consequently very scarce, including over 100 rare or notable species. The southern damselfly, for instance, is nationally and internationally rare and has suffered a 30% decline in its UK distribution since 1960. 

I have been on the lookout for Southern damselfy and Small red damselfly on the reserve and managed to find both species this week.

Southern damselfly 

Small Red damselfly

Walking around Parsonage moor one evening, I had fantastic views of a Grass snake soaking up the summer sun.

Grass snake

Other species that were observed in the area included:

Red Kite

White Marbled

Beautiful demoiselle

Meadow Brown

Red Admiral

Large Skipper

Broad-bodied chaser

Keeled skimmer

Large-red damselfly

Comma

Black-tailed skimmer

As you can see from the photographs above, there is plenty to observe in the area, and hopefully, I’ll find other things of interest.

I ended the week by visiting Chimney Meadows, which is located along the Thames Path. I was hoping to see a female Red-footed Falcon, and fortunately, the bird was present upon my arrival. It was flying around with five Hobbys. Apparently, this was only the sixth recorded sighting of a Red-footed Falcon in Oxfordshire.

What a cracking bird