BEN EARL says the Northmoor Trust's newly opened Broad Arboretum is a site for learning

On the first day of spring, Hugo Brunner, the Lord Lieutenant of Oxfordshire, officially opened the Broad Arboretum, a collection of Oxfordshire trees and shrubs. Located on the Northmoor Trust estate at Little Wittenham, between Wallingford and Didcot, the arboretum was planted a decade ago in partnership with the Oxfordshire Woodland Group.

The two-acre collection includes 49 native species. Now firmly established, the arboretum has been opened to the public. Visitors can explore this living library' with its winding hedgerows, meadow, and views over the countryside.

Beside each group of trees or shrubs there is a carved post detailing the common and Latin names, and an informative guide is available at the site, or from our visitor centre, Project Timescape.

The leaflet also includes useful characteristics for identifying and comparing different groups, such as the appearance of the leaf, any fruits or nuts to be seen, the texture and colour of the bark and its overall form or winter silhouette.

The Broad Arboretum is open throughout the year and is free to visit. The arboretum forms part of a new project called Community Nature Link.

Sitting within the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), this wider project sees a new footpath link extending from Neptune Wood in Long Wittenham to the Wittenham Clumps at Little Wittenham - stitching together two iconic and well-visited features of the Northmoor Trust estate. Crucially, the route will provide a suitable footpath for villagers as an alternative to walking along an unsuitable road. The new footpath is designed to make vital connections: between fragmented wildlife habitats, and between local communities and green spaces.

The trust's conservation work on the estate protects and enhances habitat for species under threat. These include the Great crested newt and other breeding amphibians, in addition to birds of prey such as the barn owl.

By expanding scrub and wetland habitats out from the nature reserve into a productive agricultural landscape, Community Nature Link is helping to create vital connections to other habitats in the wider landscape.

This approach is widely acknowledged as being vital for the long-term conservation of threatened species, particularly in response to climate change.

More details on both projects are available at the Northmoor Trust's website at www.northmoortrust.co.uk and leaflets on the project are available by calling the Northmoor Trust on 01865 409423.

Ben Earl is Director of Fundraising, Events and Communications at the Northmoor Trust. Science Matters is co-ordinated by Science Oxford, he cultural centre for science based in St Clements, Oxford. Visit www.scienceoxford.com