From: 163 Spring 2026
Author: Peter Smith
We are happy to report we don’t have any issues or problems at the moment. There were maybe four cases of bird flu reported over the winter, but these seem to have stopped now.
The meadow has been flooded for many weeks and is, at the time of writing this, still being monitored. The southern end, being nearly 4ft lower than the north end, was still wet in places. At one point very early in the New Year the “lake” at the Southern end was frozen sufficiently for adventurous people to ice skate on. That is always an interesting sight to behold.
The 30 or so horses have remained on the meadow throughout Winter, and are monitored and well looked after by their local owners. Cattle will return in the late Spring, based on the monitoring of flood levels, along with increasing public use and buttercups as the weather warms. The meadow will then appear as we all love it – a true ‘green lung’ for Oxford, and feeling like we’re in the countryside.
There was a visit last September from the Freshwater Habitats Trust to consider whether there may be some conservation type projects they could get involved with, potentially accessing some funding. There are plans to soon be replacing a long section of fence, with the help from Oxford Conservation Volunteers between Port Meadow and Burgess Field, focusing on the weakest points.
Also, from Easter, regular litter picking and inspections from the Countryside Team will be brought back, hopefully to be able to visit at least once a day, as well as the regular ongoing litter picking from the cleansing team.
We hope this year that there will be an appointment by the council of a new Park Ranger, or equivalent post suitable for the range of environmental and operation requirements of the site. That vacant post was not filled in 2025.