Bridge and seat on Oughtonhead Common - geograph

Oughtonhead Common is a 17.4 hectare Local Nature Reserve in the

Westmill Westmill is an English village and civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district of Hertfordshire, with an area of 1036 hectares. A population of 264 was recorded in the 2001 National Census. It lies just to the south of Buntingford, beside th ...

district of

Hitchin Hitchin () is a market town in the North Hertfordshire Districts of England, district of Hertfordshire, England. The town dates from at least the 7th century. It lies in the valley of the River Hiz at the north-eastern end of the Chiltern Hills ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

. It is owned and managed by

North Hertfordshire District Council North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north'' is ...

. and home to the Oughtonhead Common nature reserve. The

River Oughton The River Oughton is a two mile long tributary of the River Hiz in Hitchin, Hertfordshire. It rises at Oughtonhead and flows north-east between Oughtonhead Common and Oughtonhead Nature Reserve. It forms the boundary of Hitchin parish. The riv ...

flows along the edge of the site with the Common lying on its floodplain. A layer of

sedge The Cyperaceae () are a family of graminoid (grass-like), monocotyledonous flowering plants known as wikt:sedge, sedges. The family (biology), family is large; botanists have species description, described some 5,500 known species in about 90 ...

and wood

peat Peat is an accumulation of partially Decomposition, decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, Moorland, moors, or muskegs. ''Sphagnum'' moss, also called peat moss, is one of the most ...

up to a metre thick underlies the floodplain. The Common supports a wide variety of wildlife habitats. It is grazed by

English Longhorn The Longhorn or British Longhorn is a British breed of beef cattle characterised by long curving horns. It originated in northern England, in the counties of Lancashire, Westmorland and Yorkshire, and later spread to the English Midlands and to ...

cattle, and there is a football pitch. The Friends of Oughtonhead Common assist with maintaining the site. It is part of the Chilterns

Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB; , AHNE) is one of 46 areas of countryside in England, Wales, or Northern Ireland that has been designated for conservation due to its significant landscape value. Since 2023, the areas in England an ...

. In 2022, Oughtonhead Common was awarded a

Green Flag Green Flag Limited is a British roadside assistance and vehicle recovery provider, which is part of the Direct Line Group. Formed in 1971, as the National Breakdown Recovery Club, as an alternative to the AA and RAC, it used a network of ...

for the seventh consecutive year.

Oughtonhead Nature Reserve (Wildlife Trust)

On the other side of the

from the Common is the Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust's Oughtonhead Nature Reserve. The reserve was established in 1982 and comprises of fen woodland. It is not publicly accessible, but can be viewed across the river from the Common. The site has a variety of habitats, including wet and dry woodland, the river margin and fen areas. Willow, reed and rush were formerly grown and harvested in the wetter areas, and there was a corn mill at the eastern end. Birds include

kingfisher Kingfishers are a family, the Alcedinidae, of small to medium-sized, brightly coloured birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species living in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia, and Oceania, ...

water rail The water rail, western water rail or European water rail (''Rallus aquaticus'') is a bird of the rail family which breeds in well-vegetated wetlands across Europe, Asia and North Africa. Northern and eastern populations are migratory, but this ...

s and

woodcock The woodcocks are a group of seven or eight very similar living species of sandpipers in the genus ''Scolopax''. The genus name is Latin for a snipe or woodcock, and until around 1800 was used to refer to a variety of waders. The English name ...

, and there are mammals such as water shrews.

References

External links

Oughtonhead Common, Countryside Management Service
Parks and open spaces in Hertfordshire Local Nature Reserves in Hertfordshire Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust reserves Hitchin {{Hertfordshire-geo-stub