Local nature reserves (LNRs) in England are designated by local authorities under Section 21 of the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949.[1] LNRs are sites which have a special local interest either biologically or geologically. Local authorities have a duty to care for them, and must control the sites by owning or leasing them, or by having an agreement with the owners. The local authorities can apply local byelaws to manage and protect LNRs.[2]
As of February 2020, there are fifteen LNRs in Oxfordshire,[3] a county in South East England with an area of 2,605 square kilometres and a population of 648,700.
The lakes were created by Capability Brown in about 1768 as part of the landscaping of the grounds of Adderbury House.[4] The reserve also includes woodland around the lakes and there is diverse wildlife.[5]
The River Bure runs through the park and supplies water to a pond which has great crested newts. Habitats include grassland, scrub, broadleaved woodland and hedges.[6]
This steeply sloping limestone bank has a calcareous grassland habitat. More than 100 wild flower species and 15 grasses have been recorded. There are also more than 100 insect species, including 20 butterflies such as the small blue.[7]
There are seven entrances to this site close to Thame town centre. It has diverse habitats, including the brook and its banks, scrub, woodland, meadows, reed beds, hedges and sedge beds.[8]
A stream runs through these former watercress beds, fed by a spring.[9] Wildlife includes water voles, together with diverse invertebrates and plants.[10]
This nature reserve next to the Hagbourne Brook has a wildflower meadow, a disused railway embankment, a pond and wetland. There are many common spotted and southern marsh orchids, and more than 200 species of invertebrates have been recorded.[19]
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.[22]
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.[24]
This site has floristically rich chalk grassland and scrub. There are many lichens, mosses and liverworts, and twenty species of butterfly have been recorded. Wintering birds include fieldfares, redwings, yellowhammer and linnets.[27]
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