Nature Reserves

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Millennium Wood, Kingham, OxfordshireWebsiteStreet MapGoogle MapPhotos

Millennium Wood, Kingham
Local Nature Reserve
Managed by:Kingham Parish Council
OS grid reference:SP 262 245 (Car Park)
Nearest postcode:OX7 6YE (Car Park)
Usual work:Woodland maintenance, scrub clearance, pond creation

Millennium Wood is on the Eastern edge of the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), in the Evenlode Valley. The seven-acre wood is owned by the village. Around 4,000 native deciduous trees have been planted there in recent years. In 2004 readers of "Country Life" magazine voted nearby Kingham as England's favourite village.

Flora and Fauna

The woodland at Millennium Wood is mainly native deciduous species such as oak, beech, field maple and ash, a large proportion of which has been planted in recent years. There is also a mixture of scrub, such as brambles and hawthorn, and grass around the young trees. The area surrounding Millenium Wood is dominated by arable fields with some grassland. Millennium Wood provides ideal shelter and habitat for a wide variety of insects and birds, while muntjac deer have also been spotted in the area.

Conservation Management

OCV have worked at this site to create a pond to increase biodiversity at Millennium Wood and to provide an oasis for water-loving species. We also assist with scrub clearance, particularly of the invasive brambles that would otherwise smother all other wild flora and fauna at the site, and with transplanting shrubs. Hedgelaying has also been undertaken by OCV at Millennium Wood to create a thick natural boundary that provides shelter and habitat for a large range of wildlife. Considerable re-planting of native deciduous trees has been done by the villagers of Kingham to increase the range of habitats for wildlife at the site.

Location

Leave Oxford, heading north on the A44. Stay on the A44 until you are in Chipping Norton, where you should take a left onto the A361 towards Burford, shortly followed by a right onto the B4450 towards the town of Churchill. In Churchill, turn right onto Kingham Road. (Closer to Kingham, this becomes Churchill Road.) Once in Kingham, take a right. Millennium Wood will be on your right before you leave the village.