THE golden treasures and silver birches of Oxford's largest nature reserve have been revealed in all their glory in a new book published today.

Husband and wife Ivan and Jacqueline Wright have spent the past 20 years leading a team of volunteers at Shotover Country Park to produce the work.

The Shotover Wildlife group have surveyed every single species of lizard, stoat, stag beetle and oak tree to be found at the Site of Special Scientific Interest just outside Headington.

Now they have produced their definitive guide to the park entitled Shotover, The Life of an Oxfordshire Hill.

Mr Wright said: "This book has taken seven years to come to publication and represents more than 20 years of species surveying and research by local people - species specialists as well as keen volunteers.

"It explores the rich wildlife of Shotover Hill, the mosaic of habitats, the influence of local social history and the contributions of naturalists of past centuries, concluding with a discussion of the future for wildlife at Shotover."

The full-colour book which has 400 photos has been published by Pisces Publications of Newbury.

The book is available now for £25 (plus postage and packaging) from shotover-wildlife.org.uk