Now known as Parsonage Moor, this area is part of what Oxford botanists at the time knew as the Ruskin Reserve. This limestone fen with its special flora and fauna included Hurst Copse owned by Oxford botanist and SPNR Council member George Claridge Druce and Prof E. B. Poulton.
(Above) the original SPNR survey documents for Ruskin Reserve
Druce wrote of the need to secure the wider area either side of Hurst Copse, which included Parsonage Moor, describing it as a place of ‘typical primeval country’, noted for insects and plants.
Today, the whole area has European protection as Cothill Fen Special Area of Conservation (SAC). Fed by calcium-rich water from underground springs, the fen remains wet all year round. Alongside the fen are areas of reedbed, wet woodland and open pools, which support a huge variety of wildlife. Within the SAC, Natural England manages Cothill National Nature Reserve (NNR), while the Berks, Bucks and Oxon Wildlife Trust manages Gozzard’s Ford Fen, Parsonage Moor, Lashford Lane and Dry Sandford Pit nature reserves. The Trust is also running the Cothill Fen Project to conserve and enhance these special areas.
More information on Ruskin Reserve
Visit the Natural England page for Cothill NNR
Visit the Berks, Bucks and Oxon Wildlife Trust page for Parsonage Moor and local reserves
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