Wychwood Forest Trust

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Wychwood Forest Trust

Making new spaces for nature in the 41 West Oxfordshire parishes once part of the historic Wychwood Forest.

Now mostly hanging out on Instagram The Wychwood Forest Trust uses the focus of the former Royal Hunting Forest of Wychwood to encourage local people to understand, conserve and restore its rich mosaic of landscapes and wildlife habitats. By working with the local community to restore habitats, we benefit people now and in generations to come.

22/10/2026

A huge thank you to all the hedgelayers who made our third annual competition such a success on Saturday!

It was great to see some old faces and some new ones too. It was a tricky hedge in places, but they all did an amazing job - as did all our brilliant volunteers and judges.

Thanks all! We'll be on a different hedge next year, but still in the Wychwood.

Winners details and photos will be up on the website next week.

14/10/2026

The team have been hard at work harvesting the last of the stakes and binders needed for the hedgelaying competition on Saturday.

If you are out and about at the weekend near Foxburrow Wood, do drop in and say hello.

You'll be able to see competitors from all over the country working on the last length of the perimeter hedge. Their efforts are a major contribution to nature recovery on the site - we get a huge section of hedge laid which will benefit wildlife for years to come, and we also get to celebrate this traditional rural craft.

More details on our website.

07/10/2026

October's guided walk around Gibbets Hill will be on 18th October 2-4 pm.

Join WFT's CEO, ecologist Neil Clennell, who will lead you on a ramble around this exciting habitat restoration site.

At the moment the site is not freely open to the public, so this is your chance to see it early on in its rewilding journey and learn about the cutting-edge ecological research being done here to combat biodiversity loss. You will also be able to see the major wetland creation project completed in 2024.

It is a great opportunity to enjoy a walk in the heart of the Cotswolds in this very special place, home to a wide variety of wildlife including bats, barn owls and some magnificent veteran oak trees, and with spectacular views from the top of the hill.

There will also be the opportunity to ask Neil questions about habitat restoration, natural regeneration or any other aspect of the rewilding process.

Tickets available from: https://www.wychwoodforesttrust.co.uk/event-list

01/10/2026

The WFT 2026 AGM will once again take place in the beautiful conference barn at FarmED.

The cafe will be serving tea and coffee from 10.30am before proceedings start at 11am.

After the brief business of the Annual General Meeting, we will present some of WFT's highlights and achievements of the past 12 months.

This will be followed by "Collaborating for landscape-scale nature recovery", a talk delivered by our guest speaker, Will Dennis.

Will is the recently-appointed Nature Recovery Coordinator for the Cotswold parishes of Charlbury, Fawler and Finstock. His task is to forge connections between community groups, local authorities, and county-wide ENGOs to deliver a joined up strategy for nature recovery. Will also works part time with the North East Cotswold Farmer Cluster, focused on food systems and building awareness of the cluster's landscape recovery project. He hopes to create a lasting partnership between the cluster, the parish communities and key delivery partners like Wychwood Forest Trust.

A light buffet lunch will be provided, and copies of WFT's Annual Review magazine will be also available on the day.

We do hope you will join us for the 2026 AGM which looks set to be another interesting day of thoughtful conversations and positive plans. Everyone is welcome, including non-members.

Tickets from https://www.wychwoodforesttrust.co.uk/event-list

22/09/2026

Work continues apace on the carrion table at Gibbets Hill. It's really starting to come together.

Huge thank you to our engineer-leader Mark and all the committed volunteers who have got behind this project and put in so much hard work.

If you are interested in joining the gang, email [email protected]

15/09/2026

We have a few spots left for Sunday's guided walk at Gibbets Hill near Witney.

Join WFT's CEO, ecologist Neil Clennell, on a guided walk around Gibbets Hill, our exciting nature reserve and habitat restoration project.

At the moment the site is not freely open to the public, so this is your chance to see it early in its rewilding journey and learn about the cutting-edge ecological research being done here to combat biodiversity loss. You will also be able to see the major wetland creation project completed in 2024.

It is a great opportunity to enjoy a walk in the heart of the Cotswolds in this very special place, home to a wide variety of wildlife including bats, barn owls and some magnificent veteran oak trees, and with spectacular views from the top of the hill.

There will also be the opportunity to ask Neil questions about habitat restoration, natural regeneration or any other aspect of the rewilding process as you go around the…

Tickets available from: https://www.wychwoodforesttrust.co.uk/event-list

10/09/2026

We are getting ready for one of our favourite events of the year, the WFT annual hedgelaying tournament.

This year, it will be held on 17th October at Foxburrow Wood - on possibly the last stretch of the western boundary hedge, before we move on to another one next year.

We are delighted that Tony Wilsdon will be back as head judge, ably assisted by Andy Deller. Our team are already busy preparing the site and harvesting the necessary stakes and binders.

There is always a great atmosphere on the hedge, with competitors sharing tools with each other, offering advice, and a fair amount of good-natured banter.

Entries for the competition are now open, and if you’d like to take part, there are more details on our website at https://www.wychwoodforesttrust.co.uk/hedgelaying-championship-2026.

09/09/2026

Thanks to That's TV Oxfordshire for featuring WFT on the program last night!

If anyone wants to join our dry stone walling volunteer group, or knows of a community wall that needs repairing, do get in touch at [email protected]

08/09/2026

Yesterday, That's TV (Channel 7 Freeview) interviewed Roger Newman, our WFT volunteer walling leader about a recent walling project they completed at Bladon Cemetery.

The program will go out tonight at 6pm on Channel 7 Freeview.

Big thanks to That's TV for highlighting the fantastic work our walling team do across the Wychwood region.

If you have a Cotswold dry stone wall in your community that needs repairing, drop us an email at [email protected]

25/06/2026

Our June newsletter is out.

Neil explains why trees are nature's very own air-conditioning system. Even relatively scant tree cover can significantly lower air temperatures, which is useful to know in this heatwave.

Read more now on our website at https://www.wychwoodforesttrust.co.uk/news

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Witney

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+447561639094

Website

http://www.wychwoodforesttrust.co.uk/

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