Chimney Meadows Nature Reserve, nr Bampton, Oxfordshire

Approx time: 1 - 2 hours
Paths:  grass and boardwalk
Points of interest: trees, wildlife, streams, pond, cows, river
Amenities: car park
Grading: all terrain buggy
Weather: all seasons

We saw so much wildlife on this walk today, it really was excellent. In a field near the car park we saw 4 deer, we were down wind so got a good watch of them without them knowing we were there. There were grazing sheep and cows.

 From the bird hides we saw a heron and swan. We saw 2 more deer in another field, they had spotted us so we saw them racing across the field. We saw rabbit holes and badger sets, heard woodpeckers a few times too.

There are various footpaths you can follow round chimney meadows, just doing the pond and bird hide would take about an hour, to go across the Thames and into the fields beyond took us about 2 hours. The walks are almost circular.

There are 2 picnic benches positioned close to the Thames path, so perfect if you want to take a picnic or snack with you.
The footpaths can be a little bumpy in places, but an all terrain buggy could handle this, the footpath to the bird hides is wheelchair friendly so this area is all very flat.

More information about Chimney Meadows can be found on the BBOWT website