Woodland's a Thames Valley gem

Autumn is one of the best times of the year to appreciate the glorious ‘jewels’ of the Chilterns, the woodlands and valleys that make our countryside so special.

As you drive from Oxford towards Watlington, High Wycombe or Henley, the Chilterns escarpment is a constantly changing and exceptionally colourful wooded horizon as the leaves turn different shades of gold, copper and bronze. For me this is when the Chiltern woods are at their most attractive.

Narrow lanes and tracks climb steeply from the main roads and you will soon find the BBOWT nature reserves at Oakley and Chinnor Hill near Chinnor.

These reserves are spectacular for their views across the Oxfordshire plain and their woodland walks. Kicking through the bright leaves that fell in the early frosts and October gales is where you will discover fungi, mosses and the glossy red berries of festive holly trees.

From next month BBOWT hopes to add Yoesden, a beech woodland and chalk grassland site, to its Chilterns reserves. A ‘hanger’ woodland of beech, yew and whitebeam trees clothes the steep hillside that overlooks Radnage Valley. Below the woodland lies a swathe of chalk grassland that is renowned for its variety of wild flowers, butterflies and moths.

Butterfly enthusiasts, who visit regularly in the spring and summer to photograph the 200-plus species of butterflies and moths there, regard Yoesden as one of the gems of the Thames Valley.

Both the woodland and grassland habitats have been well managed by the current owners who, 20 years ago, bought the site so that everyone could enjoy the extraordinary natural features. The site is criss-crossed with footpaths, including the popular Chilterns Way, and with pubs nearby at Bledlow Ridge and Radnage, it makes an excellent destination for a circular walk.

This autumn, BBOWT is raising funds to buy Yoesden, so that the chalk grassland and the woodland will continue to be managed for wildlife. Chalk grassland is an internationally-rare habitat, and the Chilterns is one of the few areas in the UK where isolated fragments of chalk grassland supports wild flowers including orchids and gentians, and butterflies such as the chalkhill blue and gatekeeper.

Estelle Bailey, chief executive of BBOWT, is leading the appeal. “When I visited the site in the summer I was delighted to see so many varieties of butterflies,” she said. “The sounds of crickets and grasshoppers and the scents of wild thyme and marjoram were amazing. The views from the top of the bank looking across Radnage Valley are stunning.”

Ched George, a conservation work party leader at Yoesden who volunteers for Butterfly Conservation’s Upper Thames Branch is supporting the appeal: “Yoesden Bank is floristically very rich and unspoilt. It’s the northernmost site for the Adonis blue butterfly, silver-washed fritillaries have made regular appearances in recent years, and a few dark green fritillaries visit occasionally from sites nearby.”

If BBOWT is successful with its fundraising appeal, there will be guided walks, workshops and events, work parties to help control the scrub, and detailed surveying of the grassland to ensure it is kept in the best condition for flowers and herbs that provide essential food and shelter for butterflies and other insects.

The surveys will be monitored by BBOWT ecologist Debbie Lewis, who recently led a guided walk at Yoesden. “Development of one sort or another since the Second World War has obliterated 97 per cent of this type of grassland and with it, not only the specialist flowers but those species which depend on them, such as the evocatively named chalkhill blue butterfly,” said Debbie.

“Perhaps due to the steepness of the slope, Yoesden has survived the massacre and retains a breathtaking diversity of plants and animals, so many of which have simply become extinct in our wider countryside. This precious site is now at risk of adding to the 97 per cent statistic.”

For more information about the Yoesden appeal go to the website bbowt.org.uk/yoesden