Banbury Ornithological Society - Neal Trust Nature Reserve

Location: SP2950 - Access from Fosse Way B4455

Access to BOS members only, please contact warden This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for access details.

The reserve managed by the BOS covers approximately 16 ha which is surrounded by a further 18 ha of sympathetically managed arable land also owned by the Neal Trust.

The Neal Trust Reserve is the newest BOS reserve and comprises most of the land of high conservation value at Oxhouse Farm, Combrook in Warwickshire. Bordered on one side by the River Dene, the reserve is a mosaic of woodland and open grassland.

Breeding birds include great spotted and green woodpeckers, nuthatch, treecreeper, six species of tit and a good variety of warblers. Fieldfare and redwing are seen in large numbers in winter.

There is an SSSI, 1.6 ha in area, which is excellent for butterflies in July and August and is the only breeding site for Dark Green Fritillary in Warwickshire.

UK currently holds approximately a quarter of the global Curlew population, with estimates for England of about 30,000 pairs. National monitoring data show that this population has been in long-term decline since the 1970s and has almost halved in the UK over the last 20 years. In lowland southern England, the population has declined to about 500 pairs, with many colonies on the verge of local extinction. Read more ...

"30 by 30" – Bringing our wildlife back - Ian Jelley, Director of Landscape Recovery, Warwickshire Wildlife Trust

The UK is one of the most nature-depleted countries on Earth and 16% of all of our species are under threat from extinction as a result of human activity. So what can we do? The Wildlife Trusts believe in the science that demonstrates if 30% of the UK land and sea supports nature then our nature will recover. Read more ...

A survey where observers are each given a randomly selected 1km square and record all the species encountered and numbers of each for a minimum period of 2 hours between 9am and noon. Read more ...

Reserves

Neal Trust Nature Reserve

The BOS Curlew Recovery Project

13 October 2025 - Indoor Meeting at 7.30pm

Winter Random Square Survey: 22 or 23 November 2025