The River Oughton is a two mile long tributary of the

River Hiz The River Hiz is a small () tributary river in Hertfordshire that feeds the River Ivel that, in turn, feeds the River Great Ouse. Starting at its source of a chalk fed spring just south of the village of Charlton, the river winds its way thro ...

Hitchin Hitchin () is a market town and unparished area in the North Hertfordshire Districts of England, district in Hertfordshire, England, with an estimated population of 35,842. History Hitchin is first noted as the central place of the Hicce peopl ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

. It rises at Oughtonhead and flows north-east between Oughtonhead Common and Oughtonhead Nature Reserve. It forms the boundary of Hitchin parish. The river has clear water from chalk springs in the

Chiltern Hills The Chiltern Hills is a chalk escarpment in England. The area, northwest of London, covers stretching from Goring-on-Thames in the southwest to Hitchin in the northeast - across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, and Bedfordshire. ...

, and it has a rich aquatic and insect life. Plants include spring

water crowfoot ''Ranunculus'' is a large genus of about almost 1700 to more than 1800 species of flowering plants in the family Ranunculaceae. Members of the genus are known as buttercups, spearworts and water crowfoots. The genus is distributed in Europe, ...

, and there are mammals such as the

water shrew Water shrew may refer to any of several species of semiaquatic red-toothed shrews: *Asiatic water shrews ('' Chimarrogale'' spp.) ** Malayan water shrew (''C. hantu'') ** Himalayan water shrew (''C. himalayica'') ** Sunda water shrew (''C. phaeura'' ...

, and birds include kingfishers and water rails.

References

Oughton Oughton is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Adolphus Oughton (c. 1685–1736), British Army officer and politician *Diana Oughton (1942–1970), American radical * Duncan Oughton (born 1977), New Zealand (soccer) footballer *Geo ...

Hitchin {{England-river-stub