Oxford News
Wildlife disturbed after old trees felled on Bicester path
The path, which runs behind homes adjacent to Gavray Drive and between Mallards Way, is regularly used by dog walkers and is known locally for its wildlife.
Sandra Williams, who walks her dogs down the path daily, heard chainsaws and chippers from near her home, just off of the path, on Wednesday, May 27.
After the operation she noticed a sudden influx of distressed young birds take shelter in her garden.
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“I had loads of flustered juvenile birds landing on my fences and bushes,” she said, explaining that their garden, which includes feeders and nest boxes, appeared to become a refuge during the disturbance.
Among them was a young blue tit, which flew into a window and was temporarily stunned. The resident was able to safely move the bird to a nearby tree, where it later recovered and flew away.
She said: “Luckily I managed to scoop it up and after a short while, popped it into my Magnolia tree where it recovered itself and eventually flew off.”
She believes some of the trees removed were more than 30 years old, based on the size of the remaining stumps.
Photos shared show a stark contrast between one side of the pathway, which remains untouched, and the other, which has been described as “completely butchered”.
Concerns have also been raised about the loss of privacy for nearby homes and the potential long-term impact on local wildlife, including birds and squirrels.
She added: “You can hear the number of birds that live in this alleyway – their undeniable tweetering is proof.
“If the rest of this pathway is scheduled for such drastic coppicing, it will be a disaster for the local birds and squirrels that live there.”
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Someone who wants to fell trees on public land will need to apply for a felling licence from the Forestry commission. This is not the case on private land, such as in a garden, unless it is a protected tree under a preservation order.
While cutting trees in England during peak bird nesting season in the spring and summer months is not illegal, it becomes an offence under the Wildlife and Countryside Act if a wild bird is intentionally killed or injured or their nests and eggs are damaged or destroyed.
Oxfordshire County Council and Cherwell District Council and said its teams were not responsible for the work, with the latter redirecting their enquiries to Bicester Town Council.
A response from the town council is still awaited.
Traffic was halted on the major trunk motorway at about midday on Friday, August 7, because of a serious collision.
Cars were stopped and diverted before junction 10 with Ardley heading northbound on the motorway, before junction 11 with Banbury, and drivers travelling southbound were also stopped to allow an air ambulance to land.
READ MORE: M40 closed with two hour delays due to ‘serious’ crash
Cars experienced delays in excess of two hours on the northbound approach, with six miles of congestion reported, as well as significant delays on the A34 towards the Wendlebury Interchange and junction with the M40.
Thames Valley Police has been approached for more information on what happened but has not provided a response.
The motorway had reopened by about 3pm but residual delays remained for much of the afternoon.
Thames Valley Police’s rural crime taskforce, which frequently patrols the countryside across the north of Oxfordshire, have now revealed its officers were the first on the scene.
A spokesperson said they provided ‘an immediate response and support to those invovled’ and it is understood other emergency responders subsequently attended the scene.
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The officers also dealt with a stolen car in Kidlington and seized a van with no insurance whose driver had no licence.
In Chieveley, the taskforce arrested a driver on suspicion of possession of class A and class B drugs and driving whilst unfit through drugs, without a licence and without insurance.
It was described as a ‘proactive day highlighting the wide range of incidents Rural Crime Taskforce officers respond to across the force area’ by the team.
Environmental charity Earth Trust shared a video of the remnants of a barbecue still smouldering and surrounded by litter and burnt wood at historic chalk beech mounds the Wittenham Clumps in South Oxfordshire.
The fire, discovered on Friday, August 8, came just a day after the charity warned people about the dangers of barbecues at the green space during the extreme drought the county is facing, as ‘a single spark could develop into a wildfire’.
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A spokesperson for Earth Trust said: “The reality is that one small fire could easily burn through the whole of the Clumps and Bessie’s Field grasslands.
“It could spread into the hedgerows, damage the woodlands, and cause real, lasting harm to the archaeology of Castle Hill.
“A disposable BBQ might look harmless. A few glowing embers might seem like nothing. But in dry grassland, that is all it takes.
READ MORE: Police taskforce ‘first on scene’ of crash which closed M40
“Please do not bring BBQs or light fires at the Clumps or any of our nature reserves. Take your litter home. Leave no trace.
“If you see vegetation on fire, no matter how small, call 999 immediately and ask for the fire service. Do not put yourself at risk.”
People are asked to bring picnics instead, take all litter home, leave no trace on the landscape and report any signs of fire immediately to protect the iconic landscape.
The former UK Prime Minister, who lives just outside of Wallingford with his family, was paying tribute to Rod Liddle in a new article in The Spectator following the broadcaster’s death.
Mr Liddle died on Sunday, August 2, after a short illness and having spent his career in journalism and Mr Johnson has now paid tribute to him.
In his Spectator piece, the former Henley MP wrote: “Look at what has happened to free speech in the last couple of decades: J.K. Rowling all but cancelled just for saying a woman is a woman; the cops knocking on your door for non-crime hate incidents; students banning brilliant minds from their campuses; endless ridiculous ‘content warnings’; people fired just for a stray comment on the internet.
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“It’s mad, and yet more and more journalists have been invisibly capitulating. We have been toning it down, cutting that joke, sandpapering things to avoid getting into trouble.
“Not Rod Liddle. In the last few years he seemed to become more and more exceptional: still blazing away from his lonely but glorious redoubt.”
Ms Rowling, who wrote all the books in the Harry Potter series, JK Rowling, has told of her growing “fury” after a leading human rights charity branded the sexual violence support centre she founded “anti-rights”.
The sector’s watchdog has confirmed it is investigating the matter.
The Harry Potter author said she is willing to support legal action on the issue, after a report published by Amnesty International UK listed Beira’s Place alongside several other organisations described as “gender critical” and classed as “anti-rights”.
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The list also named For Women Scotland, which won a Supreme Court case in April 2025, which saw judges at the UK’s highest court rule that the term “woman” in the Equality Act refers to a biological woman.
Beira’s Place was established in Edinburgh in 2022 by Rowling to provide women-only support for women who have experienced sexual violence.
Rowling posted on X on Friday: “Amnesty’s attack on Beira’s Place has left me burning with the kind of fury that mounts with every passing hour.”
She had previously stated that Amnesty had made a “massive error of judgment” if it believed “organisations it has attacked will be unwilling to go to court”.
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She added: “They underestimate both the solidarity that exists between the targeted organisations and my willingness to support legal action, not just on behalf of Beira’s Place, but for all women’s and LGB organisations falsely branded ‘anti-rights’.”
The Charity Commission said on Thursday that it was looking into the issue and confirmed on Friday that it had opened a case into the matter; however, it has not yet taken the step of opening a formal inquiry.
A Charity Commission spokesperson said: “We have opened a regulatory compliance case to further assess concerns raised with us about a briefing published by Amnesty International UK Charitable Trust.
“As part of this, we will be engaging with the charity’s trustees to gather more information.”
The commission, which regulates charities in England and Wales, also said the charity had referred itself to the watchdog by submitting a serious incident report.
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