Chawridge Bourne 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 ...

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...

, England Part of the site is a nature reserve called Chawridge Bank, which is 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 Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part ...

Etymology

The name ''Chawridge'' is first attested in a

charter A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the ...

of 942, which includes the

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

phrase "on ceawan hrycges hagan" ("to the enclosure of Ceawa's ridge"),Margaret Gelling, ''The Place-Names of Berkshire'', English Place-Name Society, 49–51, 3 vols (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1973–76)
I 37
where ''Ceawa'' is a

personal name A personal name, full name or prosoponym (from Ancient Greek ''prósōpon'' – person, and ''onoma'' –name) is the set of names by which an individual person or animal is known. When taken together as a word-group, they all relate to that on ...

attested only here and in the place-names ''

East East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact that ea ...

'' and ''

West Challow West Challow is a village and civil parish about west of the market town of Wantage in the Vale of White Horse, England. The village is on Childrey Brook, which is a tributary of the River Ock. West Challow was part of Berkshire until the 19 ...

''.Richard Coates,
On Some Controversy Surrounding ''Gewissae'' / ''Gewissei'', ''Cerdic'' and ''Ceawlin''
, ''Nomina'', 13 (1989–90), 1–11.John Insley, 'Britons and Anglo-Saxons', in ''Kulturelle Integration und Personennamen im Mittelalter'', ed. by Wolfgang Haubrichs, Christa Jochum-Godglück (Berlin: de Gruyter, 2019), §4. As well as, appearing in ''Chawridge Bourne'', the name also appears in the neighbouring sites of Chawridge Manor Farm, Charriage Lane, Chawridge Mead, and Chawridge Gorse.

Ecology

This linear site is named after the stream called Chawridge Bourne, which runs through it. Half of it is unimproved grassland, which is managed by sheep grazing. There are also areas of scrub and broadleaved woodland. On the east side there is an ancient parish boundary hedge which has diverse tree flora.

Fauna

The site has the following animals

Mammals

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Micromys minutus The harvest mouse (''Micromys minutus'') is a small rodent native to Europe and Asia. It is typically found in fields of cereal crops, such as wheat and oats, in reed beds and in other tall ground vegetation, such as long grass and hedgerows. It ...

Birds

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Alauda ''Alauda'' is a genus of larks found across much of Europe, Asia and in the mountains of north Africa, and one of the species (the Raso lark) endemic to the islet of Raso in the Cape Verde Islands. Further, at least two additional species a ...

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Great spotted woodpecker The great spotted woodpecker (''Dendrocopos major'') is a medium-sized woodpecker with pied black and white plumage and a red patch on the lower belly. Males and young birds also have red markings on the neck or head. This species is found acros ...

Eurasian blackcap The Eurasian blackcap (''Sylvia atricapilla'') is a bird usually known simply as the blackcap. It is a common and widespread typical warbler. It has mainly olive-grey upperparts and pale grey underparts, and differences across the five subspec ...

Lesser whitethroat The lesser whitethroat (''Curruca curruca'') is a common and widespread typical warbler which breeds in temperate Europe, except the southwest, and in the western and central Palearctic. This small passerine bird is strongly migratory, winterin ...

Invertebrates

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Polyommatus icarus The common blue butterfly or European common blue (''Polyommatus icarus'') is a butterfly in the family Lycaenidae and subfamily Polyommatinae. The butterfly is found throughout the Palearctic and has been introduced to North America. Butterfli ...

'' *'' Erynnis tages'' *''

Pyrgus malvae ''Pyrgus malvae'', the grizzled skipper, is a butterfly species from the family Skipper (butterfly), Hesperiidae. It is a small skipper (butterfly) with a chequered pattern on its wings that appears to be black and white. This butterfly can be f ...

Flora

The site has the following flora:

Trees

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Crataegus monogyna ''Crataegus monogyna'', known as common hawthorn, whitethorn, one-seed hawthorn, or single-seeded hawthorn, is a species of flowering plant in the rose family, Rosaceae. It grows to about tall, producing plant sexuality, hermaphrodite flowers i ...

'' *''

Prunus spinosa ''Prunus spinosa'', called blackthorn or sloe, is an Old World species of flowering plant in the rose family, Rosaceae. It is locally naturalized in parts of the New World. The fruits are used to make sloe gin in Britain and patxaran in B ...

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Fraxinus ''Fraxinus'' (), commonly called ash, is a genus of plants in the olive and lilac family, Oleaceae, and comprises 45–65 species of usually medium-to-large trees, most of which are deciduous trees, although some Subtropics, subtropical specie ...

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Maple ''Acer'' is a genus of trees and shrubs commonly known as maples. The genus is placed in the soapberry family Sapindaceae.Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9, June 2008 nd more or less continuously updated si ...

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Quercus robur ''Quercus robur'', the pedunculate oak, is a species of flowering plant in the beech and oak family, Fagaceae. It is a large tree, native plant, native to most of Europe and western Asia, and is widely cultivated in other temperate regions. It ...

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Malus sylvestris ''Malus sylvestris'', the European crab apple, also known as the European wild apple or simply the crab apple, is a species of the genus ''Malus''. Its scientific name means "forest apple", reflecting its habitat. It is native to western Eurasia ...

'' *''

Sorbus torminalis ''Torminalis'' is a genus of plants in the rose family, Rosaceae. The genus was formerly included within the genus ''Sorbus'' as the Section (biology), section ''Torminaria'', but the simple-leafed species traditionally classified in ''Sorbus'' ...

Plants

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Arrhenatherum elatius ''Arrhenatherum elatius'' is a species of flowering plant in the grass family Poaceae, commonly known as false oat-grass, and also bulbous oat grass (subsp. ''bulbosum''), tall oat-grass, tall meadow oat, onion couch and tuber oat-grass. It is na ...

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Holcus lanatus ''Holcus lanatus'' is a perennial flowering plant in the grass family Poaceae. The specific epithet ' is Latin for 'woolly' which describes the plant's hairy texture. Common names include Yorkshire fog, tufted grass, and meadow soft grass. In Nor ...

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Dactylis glomerata ''Dactylis glomerata'' is a species of flowering plant in the grass family Poaceae, known as cock's-foot,Interactive Flora of NW Europ''Dactylis glomerata'' (Cock's-foot)/ref> also colloquially as orchard grass, or cat grass (due to its populari ...

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Deschampsia cespitosa ''Deschampsia'' is a genus of plants in the grass family Poaceae, commonly known as hair grass or tussock grass. The genus is widespread across many countries.Festuca rubra ''Festuca rubra'' is a species of grass known by the common name red fescue, creeping red fescue or the rush-leaf fescue. It is widespread across much of the Northern Hemisphere and can tolerate many habitats and climates. It is best adapted to w ...

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Achillea ptarmica ''Achillea ptarmica'' is a Eurasian species of herbaceous perennial flowering plant in the genus ''Achillea''. Common names include the sneezewort, sneezeweed, bastard pellitory, European pellitory, fair-maid-of-France, goose tongue, sneezewort y ...

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Genista tinctoria ''Genista tinctoria'', the dyer's greenweed or dyer's broom, is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae. Its other common names include dyer's whin, waxen woad and waxen wood. The Latin specific epithet ''tinctoria'' means "used as a ...

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Hordeum secalinum ''Hordeum secalinum'', false rye barley or meadow barley (a name it shares with '' Hordeum brachyantherum''), is a species of wild barley native to Europe, including the Madeiras, Crimea and the north Caucasus, northwest Africa, and the Levant. I ...

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Ophioglossum vulgatum ''Ophioglossum vulgatum'', commonly known as adder's-tongue, southern adder's-tongue or adder's-tongue fern, is a species of fern in the family ''Ophioglossaceae''. The chloroplast genome was reported to have a size of 138,562 base pairs. Descr ...

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Primula veris ''Primula veris'', the cowslip, common cowslip, or cowslip primrose (syn. ''Primula officinalis'' John Hill (author), ), is a herbaceous perennial flowering plant in the Primula vulgaris, primrose family (biology), family Primulaceae. The specie ...

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Silaum silaus ''Silaum silaus'', commonly known as pepper-saxifrage, is a perennial plant in the family Apiaceae, Apiaceae (Umbelliferae) (the carrot family) found across south-eastern, central, and western Europe, including the British Isles. It grows in damp ...

'' *'' Senecio erucifolius'' *''

Carex pallescens ''Carex pallescens'', called pale sedge, is a widespread species of flowering plant in the genus ''Carex ''Carex'' is a vast genus of over 2,000 species of grass-like plants in the family (biology), family Cyperaceae, commonly known as sedges ...

'' *'' Potentilla anglica'' *''

Succisa pratensis ''Succisa pratensis'', also known as devil's-bit or devil's-bit scabious, is a flowering plant in the honeysuckle family Caprifoliaceae. It differs from other similar species in that it has four-lobed flowers, whereas '' Scabiosa columbaria'' ( ...

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Ranunculus auricomus ''Ranunculus auricomus'', known as goldilocks buttercup or Greenland buttercup, is a perennial species of buttercup native to Eurasia. It is a calcicole typically found in moist woods and at the margins of woods. It is apomictic, and several hund ...

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Phyllitis scolopendrium ''Asplenium'' is a genus of about 700 species of ferns, often treated as the only genus in the family Aspleniaceae, though other authors consider ''Hymenasplenium'' separate, based on molecular phylogenetic analysis of DNA sequences, a different ...

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Polystichum setiferum ''Polystichum setiferum'', or the soft shield fern, is an evergreen or semi-evergreen fern native to southern and western Europe. The stalks and most midribs are coated with cinnamon-brown scales. The Latin specific epithet ''setiferum'' means "w ...

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Centaurea nigra ''Centaurea nigra'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, and is also known as lesser knapweed, common knapweed, black knapweed and bell weed. It is native to central Europe, and has been introduced to temperate North America ...

'' *''

Leontodon taraxacoides ''Leontodon saxatilis'' is a species of hawkbit known by the common names lesser hawkbit, rough hawkbit, and hairy hawkbit. It is native to Europe and North Africa but can be found in many other places across the globe as an introduced species an ...

References

{{Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Berkshire Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust Warfield Winkfield