We are lucky in Alvescot. We still have working farms with fields, footpaths
and hedgerows. The latter, planted in the early 18th Century, remain mostly
intact and provide food and cover for animals and birds and a place for wild
plants to grow.
Of the changes in the village, one of the biggest was the loss of the elm
trees with Dutch Elm disease in the 1970s. This finally destroyed those elm
trees that had survived the 1920s outbreak. There were a great many in the
village; 18 were cut down in one five-acre paddock in Lower End. These
were mature trees and altered the landscape forever, along with the view
of cattle sheltering in their shade. The railway line came and went, leaving
tracks within the environs of Alvescot. Although they are not public
footpaths the farmers kindly allow villagers to walk them. Housing
developments have been kept small, and have enabled the village to stay as
a village, although it is becoming increasingly more urban. The gardens do,
however, attract a number of birds, mammals and insects and provide
attractive trees and plants. There has been a significant planting of trees
and bulbs along the main roads. Trees are mainly oak, beech, ash, chestnut,
and willow.
A great deal of conservation work has been done in the churchyard. This
started in 1991, when it was realised that close mowing meant a loss of the
primroses and the blue geraniums (cranesbill), which were abundant in the
1970s. A plan was devised to cut the grass only four times a year. The
central areas contain remnants of old meadow grasses, the intensely
fragrant sweet vernal and quaking grass, and a variety of wild flowers -
bugle, birdsfoot trefoil, rough hawkpit, hoary plantain, brown knapweed,
ladies bedstraw and the showy blue meadow cranesbill. The primroses and
snowdrops are spreading, as are the narcissi, cranesbill and daffodils. One
old rose on a grave is thought to date from 1840. The old elms at the back
of the Church have been dug out, which disturbed the ground and let the
nettles and coarse grasses flourish. These will need extra cutting and work if
they are to be kept from spreading. There are yew trees for shelter and
beech trees have been planted instead of the elms.
Further down Mill Lane is a copse, which, until a few years ago, when a
vandal dug up the majority of them, used to be full of snowdrops in the
early spring. The remainder were spread out and will recover in time,
provided they are left alone.
In the older parts of the woodland there are anemones, celandines and
violets. Spring also brings the wild tulips to Mill Lane – these are unusual and
rare, with fragrant yellow flowers.
Following the footpath from Mill Lane to the RAF fence is a field called
‘Horse Common’ - a ‘site of special scientific interest’ (SSSI). This field is
cut the old fashioned way. The grass is cut later when seeds have set, and
as the drying hay is turned the seeds fall and replant themselves. Cows then
graze it and no fertiliser is used. In a recent survey 127 different species of
wild plants were found with 15 species of rushes. There are orchids here,
and ragged robin. In other fields like ‘Old Court’ there are other rare
flowers and plants - frog and pyramid orchids, the tway blade and adders
tongue, as well as the yellow rattle, an index species showing that the
ground has been undisturbed for hundreds of years.
The old railway line is now home to many plants and animals. Part of it is
overgrown with brambles, elder and nettles. Above them are trees which
were probably hedges at one time, hawthorn, blackthorn, hazel, briar rose
and even the odd apple tree – seeded from a passing train perhaps, or left
behind from a demolished house near the line. And underneath, there are
cowslips, primroses, violets, lords and ladies and many others. Where the
path is opened out, many plants and flowers grow; cranesbill, toadflax,
camomile, bladder campion, cow parsley, wild roses, blackberries and
grasses. Increasingly, these are to be found on the edges of other footpaths
and roadways. Wild mint grows by some fields.
Thanks to the farms, hedges, grass verges, gardens and set-aside fields, we
have a variety of creatures that are able to survive. Some of the hedges are
cut one half one year and the other half the next year in order to provide
food and shelter for small animals, insects, butterflies, moths and birds.
There are plenty of rabbits (myxomatosis is around but they seem immune
from it now). Hares seem to be on the increase, so do foxes, mice, voles,
moles, rats, hedgehogs. There have been a few sightings of badgers. Deer
are seen - roe, fallow and muntjak. Even the rare water vole has been seen
on the Shill, but maybe not in enough numbers to survive. Slugs and snails
survive but are at the mercy of insecticides and slug pellets, which then get
into the food chain. Bats are seen flying in the evenings – some of their
habitats like barns have been converted but long-eared bats and pipistrelles
are still spotted.
The pondlife in the running ditches and streams seems to have gone - no
more sticklebacks or frogspawn, and few snakes and slow-worms. Perhaps
the frogs and toads will survive in garden ponds (there are crested newts in
a garden pond in Mill Lane). The cause of their demise is unknown, perhaps
the close-cutting of banks, insecticides, slug pellets, changes in the pattern
of farming and pollution – it is a problem nationwide.
The birdlife has altered. Far fewer flocks of lapwings are seen. The corn
buntings and curlews have gone, and there is a big reduction in sparrows (a
national problem). But there is a vast increase in the rook and magpie
population as they are no longer shot.
Gardens can seem like woodland glades to birds. Woodpeckers, both green
and spotted, marsh tits, long tailed tits, collared doves, thrushes,
goldfinches, gold crests and wrens can be found, along with the usual
garden birds. In the fields are yellowhammers, wintering blackcaps,
skylarks, (it is thought that there may be an increase in the skylarks), and
more birds of prey – sparrowhawks, kestrels and buzzards. The latter can be
seen riding the thermals high in the sky. There are pheasants, grouse, snipe
and quail, and, on the Shill there are moorhens, perhaps still a raille, ducks,
the occasional heron and kingfishers. We seem to have a healthy owl
population of tawny and little owls. Occasionally a barn owl is seen, but
rarely now - there are few barns left for them. In the summer fewer
swallows and house martins return but our swift population seems as strong
as ever.
Insect life is hard to judge and seems to fluctuate. There seem to be fewer
ladybirds, but we have crickets, speckled, oak and dark bush varieties, the
latter introduced in 1981. 26 species of butterfly are reported to be in one
garden. One casualty is the white-letter hairstreak, which lived on the tops
of elm trees. Any rough ground is beneficial to butterflies and moths.
Regularly seen are the orange tip, brimstone, common and holly blues (the
latter with fluctuating populations), meadow and hedge browns, small heath
and speckled wood, skippers, small copper, red admiral, comma, peacock
and small tortoiseshell, as well as the less welcome cabbage, large, small
and green-veined whites. Marbled whites are seen in small numbers most
years. A few clouded yellows arrived from the continent in the autumn of
1983, and 1996 brought our share of a widespread influx of migrant painted
ladies. The scarlet tiger moth became common in Alvescot gardens, as
elsewhere in Oxfordshire, in the 1980s, but is now rarer. The hummingbird
hawkmoth arrives most summers and the biggest British moth, the
convolvulus hawk, is occasionally seen in summer evenings hovering over
tobacco plants.
A lot of the flora and fauna would seem to be surviving. With care, this
should continue.
Acknowledgements for help with this section:
Mr Chris Carter and Mrs Stephanie Carter, Apple Meadow
Mr Charlie Edmunds, The Bungalow, Manor Farm
Mrs Nan Gibson, Holly Tree Cottage
Miss Maureen Marsh, Mill Cottage
Mr Brian Morris and Mrs Sue Morris
Mr Ralph Mawle, Rectory Farm
Mr Mike Honour and Mrs Claire Honour, Home Farm
Mr Ernest Oakey, Butlers Court Farm
Mr Alan Eustace and Mrs Sue Eustace, Park Farm