Hosepipe ban – 22 July onwards

This year, the UK experienced one of its warmest and driest springs in over a century. June was also England’s warmest on record. The Environment Agency has put our area into the prolonged dry weather category. To help protect our rivers and to make sure there’s...

WODC collecting in recycling bin – update

This an official update from WODC (dated 15 July 2025 and reference number 0211880) for what you can put in your blue lidded recycling bin. This now includes flexible plastics i.e. plastic bags etc. Please read below for the details.  PLEASE NOTE...

Two more firsts

At a time when so much news on insects is poor, we have more good news; another couple of ‘fantastic firsts’ for the village. The first ‘first’ is a nationally scarce hoverfly – Parasyrphus nigritarsis (Zetterstedt, 1843) – a beneficial stripy yellow and black...

Bagg’s Bottom: Integrated blackthorn management

Bagg’s Bottom, part of the Stonesfield Common, Bottoms and Banks SSSI in West Oxfordshire, is a rare chalk grassland ecosystem. With its complex topography, spring-fed slopes, ancient pollards, and upright brome-dominated grassland, it represents a landscape shaped by...

A new butterfly species for Stonesfield

The Brown Hairstreak butterfly (Thecla betulae) has not been observed in our parish so far this century. Late in the evening on 16 May 2025, several larvae of this species were observed and photographed along Bagg’s Bottom, detected using an ultra violet light on the...

Sally Wainwright radio interview

Listen to Stonesfield’s Sally Wainwright interview broadcast on Friday 30 May at 8pm on WRFM. To hear the episode, click this link. Or for the trailer click the link below. HVrev01_1200x630.mp4

Temporary Road Closure, Fawler : 24 – 26 July

Temporary Traffic Regulation Notice – S14 Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 Temporary Road Closure and “No Waiting” restriction at Fawler, Main Street In the interests of public safety, it will be necessary for Oxfordshire County Council to close the road and impose a...