Hartslock, also known as Hartslock Woods, is a biological

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...

(SSSI) in a wooded area on the north bank of the River Thames to the south-east of Goring-on-Thames in the English county of

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

. An area of is a Special Area of Conservation and an area of is a nature reserve owned and managed by the

Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust The Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust (BBOWT), is a wildlife trust covering the counties of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire in England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It sh ...

(BBOWT). The site is well known for the variety of wild orchids that grow on its sloping grassland, and especially for the monkey orchid (''Orchis simia'') that grows in very few other places in England. The name ''Hartslock'' is believed to derive from the Hart family, who in the 15th century owned a 'lock', probably a wooden construction used to support nets and eel traps, across the river below the woods. This structure no longer exists, having been removed in stages during the 19th and early 20th centuries. In 1915, Hartslock Wood was one of the sites listed by

Charles Rothschild Nathaniel Charles Rothschild (9 May 1877 – 12 October 1923), known as "Charles", was an English banker and entomologist and a member of the Rothschild family. He is remembered for The Rothschild List, a list he made in 1915 of 284 sites acros ...

, the founder of the

Wildlife Trusts The Wildlife Trusts, the trading name of the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts, is an organisation made up of 46 local Wildlife Trusts in the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man and Alderney. The Wildlife Trusts, between them, look after more than 2, ...

, as "worthy of preservation", although the exigencies of the first world war meant that no practical steps were taken to protect it then. In 1950s and 60s, local residents reacted to encroaching agriculture by helping to monitor and protect the orchids, and in 1975/76 BBOWT bought part of the site and established it as a nature reserve. In 1986, the whole site was designated as an SSSI. The site has diverse semi-natural habitats, including species-rich chalk downland, ancient yew woodland, semi-natural broadleaved woodland, riverside fen and scrub. The wood has a variety of tree species including

beech Beech (''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia, and North America. Recent classifications recognize 10 to 13 species in two distinct subgenera, ''Engleriana'' and ''Fagus''. The ''Engle ...

and

yew Yew is a common name given to various species of trees. It is most prominently given to any of various coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Taxus'': * European yew or common yew (''Taxus baccata'') * Pacific yew or western yew (''Taxus br ...

, and there is a large colony of badgers. Besides the monkey orchid, several other orchid species, including lady (''Orchis purpurea''), bee (''Ophrys apifera''), pyramidal (''Anacamptis pyramidalis''), common spotted (''Dactylorhiza fuchsii''), common twayblade (''Neottia ovata'') and white helleborine (''Cephalanthera damasonium''), are to be found on the steeply sloping grassland part of the site. A hybrid of the monkey and lady orchids has been reported at Hartslock, the only place in Britain where this hybrid has been recorded. The Thames Path passes through Hartslock Woods. The path is usually at some distance from the river, as this is a stretch of the path that is not based on the old Thames towpath, which is on the opposite bank at this point.

Gallery

File:Hartslock Nature Reserve - geograph.org.uk - 1315760.jpg, Hatslock nature reserve grassland with orchids File:Monkey Orchid (Orchis simia) - geograph.org.uk - 1314523.jpg, Monkey Orchid at Hartslock File:Lady Orchid (Orchis purpurea) - geograph.org.uk - 1314537.jpg, Lady Orchid at Hartslock File:Lady Orchid-Monkey Orchid hybrid (Orchis purpurea x simia) - geograph.org.uk - 1314588.jpg, Hybrid Orchid at Hartslock File:The Thames Path, Hartslock Wood - geograph.org.uk - 427328.jpg, The Thames Path in Hartslock Woods

References

{{Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Oxfordshire Special Areas of Conservation in England