Otmoor

Otmoor RSPB Reserve is a nature reserve, managed by the RSPB, between Beckley and Oddington, within the wider area of Otmoor, in Oxfordshire, England. The reserve was established in 1997 and restored large areas of marshland from what had previously been farmland. The RSPB reserve covers around 1,000 acres (400 ha).Otmoor is primarily wetland and in winter provides a home to thousands of waterfowl. It is increasingly becoming a wintering ground for thousands of wildfowl and waders. Over a thousand wigeon and teal have been recorded, while birds of prey such as merlins and peregrines are regularly seen. Large areas of Otmoor have benefited from extensive agriculture using traditional methods, resulting in good numbers of songbirds that are otherwise declining in the UK, including bullfinch, skylark, reed bunting, grasshopper warbler and European turtle dove.Spring and autumn both produce good numbers of passage migrants, including waders in the spring and common redstarts and whinchats in the autumn. The best time for marsh harriers is late April to mid-May. There are good numbers of breeding waders and recent RSPB work has increased the number of pairs of northern lapwings and common redshanks. The site has become well known for murmurations (roosting displays) of starlings in winter.Bitterns were recorded as breeding in 2016.A diverse selection of other wildlife has been recorded at the reserve. Many rare plants have been reported from the area, including fen violet, downy-fruited sedge, dyer's greenweed, heath spotted orchid and green-winged orchid. The butterflies include three species of hairstreak: the black, brown and White-letter in the hedgerows, and in the meadows there are populations of marbled white and orange tip. Odonata include hairy dragonfly and variable damselfly. Mammals living on the reserve include the brown hare, European badger and Reeves's muntjac.

Otmoor SSSI is a 213-hectare (530-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest north of Oxford in Oxfordshire. It is adjacent to RSPB Otmoor, and they are both part of Otmoor, an area of wetland and wet grassland which was enclosed in the early nineteenth century. This site in the floodplain of the River Ray has herb-rich damp grassland, wet sedge, coarse grassland, woodland, pools and ditches. More than sixty species of bird breed on the site, such as curlew and lapwing, while wintering birds include teal, wigeon, snipe, golden plover and short-eared owl.Much of the site is an MOD firing range and is closed to the public.

Fencott and Murcott is a civil parish about 4 miles (6 km) south of Bicester in the Cherwell district of Oxfordshire, England. The parish is bounded on the north and west by the River Ray and has an area of just over 3,300 acres (1,300 ha) being 13.49 square kilometres (5.21 sq mi) inclusive of roads and watercourses. It includes the villages of Fencott and Murcott and had a population of about 285 residents in 2011. There are no shops or post offices but there is one public house, the Nut Tree Inn at Murcott. The M40 motorway passes through the northern part of the parish. The parish covers most of Otmoor, including the Otmoor RSPB nature reserve.

Charlton-on-Otmoor is a village and civil parish about 9 miles (14 km) NE of Oxford and 6 miles (10 km) SW of Bicester in Oxfordshire, England. The village, one of the seven "towns" of Otmoor, is on the northern edge of the moor on a ridge of Cornbrash. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 449.

Oddington is a village and civil parish about 5 miles (8 km) south of Bicester in Oxfordshire, England. The village is close to the River Ray on the northern edge of Otmoor. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 129.

Fencott is a hamlet between the River Ray and Otmoor in the civil parish of Fencott and Murcott, about 4 miles (6.4 km) south of Bicester in Oxfordshire, England.

Beckley Park is an English country house located near the village of Beckley, in Oxfordshire, England. It was built in 1540 by Lord Williams of Thame, who also built a great house at Rycote, a few miles away. It was originally built as a lodge for use when the lord and a party hunted the great park. Today it is the home of Amanda Feilding and the main headquarters of her Beckley Foundation which is doing research on the benefits of certain types of drugs, including cannabis and LSD. Feilding is married to James Charteris, 13th Earl of Wemyss, who is the owner of Stanway House in Gloucestershire and Gosford House in Scotland. The Tudor brick edifice of the house is encircled by three moats which attest to the place's importance in former days. Beckley Park remained with the descendants of Lord Williams, the Earls of Abingdon, until 1920 when it was bought by Clotilde Kate Feilding, grandmother of Amanda Feilding, Lady Neidpath. It is situated between Beckley and Otmoor just outside Oxford. The house is closed to the public, although it is regularly used for photo shoots and as a film location.

Beckley is a village in the civil parish of Beckley and Stowood, in the South Oxfordshire district, in the county of Oxfordshire, England. It is about 4.5 miles (7 km) northeast of the centre of Oxford. The 2011 Census recorded the parish of Beckley and Stowood's population as 608. The village is 400 feet (120 m) above sea level on the northern brow of a hill overlooking Otmoor. The hill is the highest part of the parish, rising to 463 feet (141 m) south of the village near Stow Wood. On the eastern brow of the hill is Oxford transmitting station, a television relay mast that is a local landmark. In 1931 the parish of Beckley had a population of 288. On 1 April 1932 the parish was abolished to form "Beckley and Stowood", part also went to "Fencott and Murcott".

Alice's Meadow is the name given to a small field in the Oxfordshire parish of Fencott and Murcott, England. It became the focus of a campaign by local people and Friends of the Earth in the 1980s, who opposed government plans to route the M40 motorway across Otmoor. The name 'Alice's Meadow' is a reference to Lewis Carroll's book Through the Looking-Glass, which is said to have been partly inspired by the 'chessboard-like' field pattern of Otmoor. It lies to the north of Otmoor, between Fencott and Murcott, and was directly on a proposed route for the motorway, which would then have continued, bisecting Otmoor. Conventional campaigning and action under the planning process led to a public inquiry. Although this ruled in favour of the objectors its decision was not binding on the Department of Transport, which decided to proceed with its original route. While the planning appeals process had been exhausted, landowners of plots along the proposed route still had grounds to appeal through the compulsory purchase procedure. Joe Weston, one of the campaigners, had the idea of taking advantage of this by identifying and purchasing a plot of land on the route, as close to Otmoor as possible. The field was purchased by Wheatley Friends of the Earth and then sold off to supporters in small plots. This was intended to delay the construction of the motorway significantly by allowing protesters formally to appeal the compulsory purchase of each of the 3500 individual plots.This tactic was possible only because under the HM Land Registry regulations then in effect for England and Wales, transactions involving small plots of unregistered land were exempt from registration. The regulations have since been revised; any unregistered plot, regardless of size, must now be registered on transfer. The Land Registry charges that would be payable under the current regulations would make a similar sale of micro-plots prohibitively expensive today. Under the regulations for the Land Registries Northern Ireland small "souvenir plots" are still specifically excluded from registration. In Scotland, souvenir plots cannot be sold.The motorway was eventually built on an alternative route (avoiding Otmoor) that had been recommended by the public inquiry. The field is currently managed by the Fencott and Murcott Parish Council, which lets out the grazing rights.

Beckley and Stowood is a civil parish in the South Oxfordshire district of Oxfordshire, England. According to the United Kingdom Census 2011 it had a population of 608 (an increase of 55 in 10 years) across its area of 9.17 km2. It is centred 3 miles (4.8 km) north-east of Oxford and just over 1 mile (1.6 km) west of the M40 motorway. The parish settlements are Beckley and Stowood which is covered in the Beckley article, long being closely associated.

Murcott is a village between the River Ray and Otmoor in the civil parish of Fencott and Murcott, about 4 miles (6.4 km) south of Bicester in Oxfordshire, England.

The Oxford transmitting station (sometimes known as the Beckley transmitter) is a broadcasting and telecommunications facility, situated on land 129.5 metres (425 ft) above Ordnance Datum (mean sea level) to the north east of the city of Oxford, in Oxfordshire, England (grid reference SP567105). It has a guyed steel lattice mast which is 154.4 metres (507 ft) in height to the top of the main steel structure. The UHF television antenna, which consist of a vertical array of transmitting panels, is mounted above the steel structure. The total height of the mast to the top of this UHF antenna is 165.7 metres (544 ft). It is owned and operated by Arqiva.