Sarah’s Meadow
Milton-under-Wychwood Parish Council asked the Evenlode Catchment Partnership (ECP) to collaborate with them on an “Eco Area” that had been made available for the community as part of a new housing development. One half of the field has been retained by the adjoining farm, but they are working with the parish council to allow open access and have agreed to having areas of native tree planting. The field lies wet, and we discovered that there was a spring running through the field in an old stone culvert. We wanted to liberate the spring and create two ponds for aquatic life.
Objectives
To create a mosaic of habitats across the parish council owned part of the field and allow open access. Specifically:
- New spring-fed ponds to create new wetland habitat.
- Two in-line ponds on the field boundary streams to intercept sediment and field runoff to improve the water quality.
- Areas of native tree planting.
Outcomes
The field is well used by the local community. The tree planting was organised for the whole village to take part, especially the scouts, cubs, beavers and girl guides.
The ponds created have been monitored for water quality using the FreshWater Watch (FWW) kits by a local teenager. He is consistently finding low phosphate and nitrate levels which is ideal for aquatic life.
We have left the ponds to be naturally colonised and will re-visit the field in a few years to see what has changed.
The project was started by Sarah Olney, working for Natural England, she sadly died suddenly before the project could be completed. The ECP took over the project delivery and we also commissioned a bench from Oxford Oak in memory of Sarah. This now sits overlooking the ponds. The oak was donated by Blenheim Estates. The “Eco Area” has been renamed in Sarah’s honour.
Project highlights
- Community involvement has been immense.
- 460 trees were planted in less than 3 hours.
- Snipe have been spotted on the meadow.
Lessons learnt
The culvert was not in the expected location, so we had to alter the plans on site.
We also encountered a subsoil of sand, useless for water retention, but a local knew that there was a seam of clay on site. The contractor excavated the clay to line the pond and filled the resulting hole in the clay with the spoil.
Future plans
Milton-under-Wychwood Parish Council will maintain the site and we look forward to working with them on other community projects.
Funding
Thames Water contribution:
Pond construction and bench: £26,719.50
Trees were provided by the Woodland Trust (cost unknown).