Hartslock

About

Hartslock, also known as Hartslock Woods, is a 41.8-hectare (103-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in a wooded area on the north bank of the River Thames to the south-east of Goring-on-Thames in the English county of Oxfordshire. An area of 29.4 hectares (73 acres) is a Special Area of Conservation and an area of 10 hectares (25 acres) is a nature reserve owned and managed by the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust (BBOWT). The site is well known for the variety of wild orchids that grow on its sloping grassland, and especially for the monkey orchid (Orchis simia) that grows in very few other places in England.

The name Hartslock is believed to derive from the Hart family, who in the 15th century owned a 'lock', probably a wooden construction used to support nets and eel traps, across the river below the woods. This structure no longer exists, having been removed in stages during the 19th and early 20th centuries. In 1915, Hartslock Wood was one of the sites listed by Charles Rothschild, the founder of the Wildlife Trusts, as "worthy of preservation", although the exigencies of the First World War meant that no practical steps were taken to protect it then. In the 1950s and 60s, local residents reacted to encroaching agriculture by helping to monitor and protect the orchids, and in 1975/76 BBOWT bought part of the site and established it as a nature reserve. In 1986, the whole site was designated as an SSSI.

Huginn is scouting Hartslock for you — this takes a few seconds the first time.