Natural England - Aston Rowant: wildlife

Aston Rowant: wildlife

Birds, bugs and blooms are in abundance here at Aston Rowant NNR!

Silver spotted skipper © Robert Silverwood

The reserve's diverse habitats support a variety of bird life including large flocks of finches and winter visitors such as fieldfare and redwing. The most charismatic inhabitant of the reserve has to be the red kite, and visitors are almost guaranteed some excellent views of this stunning bird. The scrub is an important habitat for birds including wheatear, whitethroat and blackcap. Volunteers carry out regular surveys and ring ouzel, firecrest, hobby and raven have all been spotted on the reserve. Other birds to look out for include the brightly coloured bull finch, yellowhammer and green woodpecker.

Thirty species of butterfly have been recorded on the reserve and key species include chalkhill blue and silver-spotted, dingy and grizzled skippers. Beneath the carpet of flowers there are around 500 million yellow meadow ants at Aston Rowant and the ant hills have been studied tirelessly since 1967 by Dr Tim King. Glow worms are also present on the site and can be seen glowing bright yellow/green once night falls in July.

In order to maintain the grassland in good condition Aston Rowant NNR is grazed by 300 Beulah speckle-faced sheep and a small group of Dartmoor Ponies. The chalk grassland offers a huge diversity of wild flowers including fragrant herbs such as wild thyme, marjoram and basil. Botanists might be particularly interested in scarce plants can be seen at the reserve, including Chiltern gentian and a wide variety of orchids including the frog orchid which can be found near Bald Hill. The rare violet helleborine, wood barley can be spotted in the beech woodland area. In spring visitors can marvel at beautiful carpets of bluebells.

Aston Rowant is one of the strong-holds of Juniper in the South of England, with a good natural population and several plantations. New junipers are planted annually, grown by Waterperry Gardens using seed from the reserve. There is a high level of tree diversity on the site, offering good habitat for birds, insects and small mammals, as well as a beautiful autumnal show of colour. The reserve manages key areas for dormice by coppicing hazel trees.