Habitat

Habitat. That’s not just a furniture shop. It’s where I live and You live. The Wychwood area is buzzing with life and energy. At the Wychwood Network we want to connect different centres of energy and hives of activity.

This page has three parts.

1) A little about our habitat

2) What you can DO to conserve and improve it

3) Some links

1) Our habitat

The Forest of Wychwood was inhabited in Roman times if not earlier. By the time of the Domesday book it was a Royal Hunting Forest. It has a rich and fascinating history which there is not room to relate here but informs the whole landscape and culture. As well as many villages, the Forest area touches five towns - Charlbury is at its centre, and Witney, Woodstock, Burford and Chipping Norton lie on its boundaries.

We are in the limestone belt on the Eastern edge of the Cotswold Hills. This has a profound effect on our habitat. There is an abundance of warm, mellow and easily workable stone. There are valleys and hollows in which our settlements shelter and our watercourses run. But agriculturally, the land is poor and best suited to sheep grazing. It has, in the main, been well looked after. The Wychwood Forest area is mainly rural, and has been looked after for centuries by those with a love of the countryside. There is a huge diversity of life: trees, plants, mammals, reptiles, insects. Part of the Wychwood area is designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

2) What can YOU do to conserve our habitat ?

  • Learn about it. Support the Wychwood Project or any of the other organisations listed below.
  • Grow things. Plant trees, flowers, seeds, fruit, vegetables plants. If you have a garden do it there. If you have no garden do it somewhere else.
  • Look after wildlife. Encourage birds and butterflies into your garden.
  • Support local businesses. As a general rule if you support local owner managed businesses instead of “chainstores” like Focus and Tesco the money you spend stays in the local economy and you will get much better service.
  • Be aware of what is happening around you. There are numerous local facilities, activities and resources. For many of these it is a case of “Use them or lose them”
  • Get involved in campaigns for and against things that affect you and this area, whether they be on local food, planning issues or otherwise. There are many threats to our habitat and it needs YOU to protect and improve it

3) Links