Entering
Farthinghoe from the Brackley direction on the A422 you see this sign
and the inviting view of St Michael and All Angels. The sign's reverse
is as shown on the first page of this photo section, and this side
says The Seven Sisters, referring to a row of trees.
Farthinghoe
has its own nature reserve that is on 4 ha of old railway land with
a good mix of scrub, grassland, wooded areas and a pond. The reserve
is located just south of the A422, midway between the villages of
Middleton Cheney and Farthinghoe, 5 miles west of Brackley. Access
is from the bridge on Purston Lane and it is open at all times to
visitors.
Farthinghoe
Nature Reserve has a mosaic of patchy woodland and open grass areas
- much of it specifically managed to achieve this. The old meadow
which originally adjoined the railway station (now the site of the
Waste Recycling Centre) was used for holding cattle and sheep prior
to loading on trucks for Banbury Market. The reserve has knapweeds,
scabious, ox-eye daisy and vetches and grasses. A pond was excavated
at the eastern end in 1988 and, although small, it supports many water
plants and insects.
On the
reserve, 26 species of butterflies have been recorded, most of them
regulars, including a thriving colony of marbled whites. Apart from
the 5 or 6 species of dragonflies and damselflies that breed in the
pond, others are attracted to the reserve from the nearby lake and
stream, and in late July it is possible to find beautiful demoiselle
damselflies in good numbers. The hawthorn and blackthorn scrub below
the meadow provides shelter and feeding areas, as well as nesting
sites, for a number of birds. All three woodpeckers have been recorded
on the reserve, together with breeding tawny owls, several warblers,
tits, tree sparrows and many others.
