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Preferential flow and particle‐facilitated transport through macropores contributes significantly to the transport of strongly sorbing substances such as pesticides and phosphorus. The aim of this study was to perform a field‐scale characterization of basic soil physical properties like clay and organic carbon content and investigate whether it was possible to relate these to derived structural parameters such as bulk density and conservative tracer parameters and to actual particle and phosphorus leaching patterns obtained from laboratory leaching experiments. Sixty‐five cylindrical soil columns of 20‐cm height and 20‐cm diameter and bulk soil were sampled from the topsoil in a 15‐m × 15‐m grid in an agricultural loamy field. Highest clay contents and highest bulk densities were found in the northern part of the field. Leaching experiments with a conservative tracer showed fast 5% tracer arrival times and high tracer …