Upper Thames Living Landscape

Aerial view of Chimney Meadows and the Thames floodplain. Photo by Atkins

Restore, recreate, reconnect...

Shaped by centuries of farming, along with the River Thames and tributaries, the Upper Thames Living Landscape area covers approximately 2,760 hectares of riverside meadows and pastures, ditches and riverbanks that stretch from Lechlade-on-Thames on the Gloucestershire border to Bablock Hythe in west Oxfordshire. Internationally important plant communities still thrive on the floodplain of the River Thames, together with rare wading birds that find a haven among the meadows and wet grassland.

Chimney Meadows

At the heart of the Living Landscape area is Chimney Meadows nature reserve.

BBOWT has managed the Chimney Meadows National Nature Reserve (NNR) since 1999. In 2003, we bought the neighbouring commercial farm to create our Chimney Meadows nature reserve next to the NNR. This was the start of our journey to create (in partnership with other landowners, farmers, organisations and communities) a Living Landscape.

A map of the Upper Thames Living Landscape including Chimney Meadows Nature Reserve

In a Living Landscape:

Wildlife, habitats and ecosystems are recovering from past declines as we use and manage our land in greater harmony with nature.
Wildlife and people are adapting to climate change, and natural processes are helping to reduce climate impacts.
People are inspired by, and engaged in, protecting the wildlife they experience.
People recognise the economic and social value of nature and the many ways it improves their quality of life.

With further acquisitions, including Duxford Old River in 2017, BBOWT now manages an impressive expanse of 307 hectares of Thames floodplain, the first nature reserve to span the River Thames.

Chimney Farm is now a nature reserve from which wildlife populations can expand out across the landscape. It is a mosaic of beautiful wildflower meadows and pasture fields surrounded by wildlife-rich hedgerows and willow-lined ditches, with scrapes and ponds for amphibians and wading birds. To help manage the meadows, we established a herd of Dexter cattle and a flock of Hebridean sheep. Every summer a hay cut is taken and sold, with the income supporting our work.

Valuing nature's capital

Alongside the restoration work, we studied the effects of the new ways of managing the land and carried out an Ecosystem Services Assessment. This showed that the public benefits of managing the land for nature are four times more valuable than managing the land for food production only.

Ecosystem Services Assessment Report

Upper Thames Farmers’ Cluster

"Farmers and land managers do a lot for Britain’s rural environment, but there is only so much that an individual, acting in isolation, can achieve on their own. By working together, helped by an advisor or ‘facilitator’, farmers and land managers can work more cohesively together in their locality. This enables them to collectively deliver greater benefits for soil, water and wildlife at a landscape scale."
Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust

Vision, Aims & Objectives

Education

Chimney Meadows nature reserve is a wonderful outdoor classroom for children who can visit as part of their National Curriculum school work, and with community groups eg cubs/brownies, enabling more young people to get closer to nature.

Supporters

BBOWT is very grateful to our supporters and funders, including: WREN, the Environment Agency, Natural England, RSPB, Wild Oxfordshire, the Floodplain Meadows Partnership, and Trust for Oxfordshire's Environment.

Contact Lisa Lane, the Upper Thames Living Landscape Manager, to find out more about the Upper Thames Farmers' Cluster, to arrange a visit to Chimney Meadows, or to organise a talk for your group.

Call 01367 870904 or email lisalane@bbowt.org.uk