UK Woodland Habitats
The UK is a sparsely wooded country: 11.5% of Great Britain is
covered with trees. Only 1.2% of GB is ancient semi-natural
woodland, a valuable and irreplaceable natural resource. Ancient
semi-natural woodland, and plantations on ancient woodland sites,
are a priority for conservation.
The Ancient Woodland Inventory, maintained by each country
agency, records the location and extent of ancient semi-natural
woodland in GB. The best examples are protected by SSSI/ASSI and
SAC designations, covering approximately 21% of the ancient
woodland area. The Forestry Commission also produce and maintain an
National Inventory of
Woodland and Trees.
Many woods are threatened by neglect. Reintroduction of
management is critical where species of open woodlands are in
serious decline or where spread of invasive non-native species
threatens long-established vegetation communities. Removal of
non-native trees planted in ancient woodlands during the last 100
years can help to restore sites with remnant ground flora and old
native trees. The Forestry Commission have a policy against
clearance of broadleaved woodland for conversion to other land use,
and towards conservation of the character of ancient semi-natural
woodlands.
Several woodland types were Priority Habitats under the
UK Biodiversity Action
Plan (UK BAP):
- Lowland beech and yew woodland
- Wood-pasture and parkland
- Native pine woodlands
- Upland mixed ashwoods
- Upland oakwood
- Wet woodland
- Mixed broadleaved woodland (Lowland Mixed Deciduous
Woodland)
- Upland birchwoods
Resources
The nature conservation value of scrub in
Britain (2000)
JNCC Report 308
A pilot study to examine the potential linkage
between and applications of multiple woodland datasets: a GIS-based
analysis (1999)
Purdy, K.M. & Ferris, R.
JNCC Report 298
The relationship between Biodiversity Action
Plan Priority and Broad Habitat Types, and other woodland
classifications (1998)
Hall, J.E. & Kirby, K.J.
JNCC Report 288
The conservation of lower plants in woodland
(1996)
Hodgetts, N.G.
Long-term ecological change in British woodlands
(1971-2000) (2001)
English Nature Research Reports No. 653
National vegetation classification field guide
to woodland (2001)
Hall, J.E., Kirby, K.J. & Whitbread, A.M.
Joint Nature Conservation Committee, Peterborough
Objective
setting and condition monitoring within woodland Sites of Special
Scientific Interest
Kirby, K., Latham, J., Holl, K.,
Bryce, J., Corbett, P. & Watson, R. (2002)
English Nature Research Reports, No. 472
The nature conservation value of scrub in
Britain (2000)
Mortimer, S.R., Turner, A.J., Brown, V.K., Fuller, R.J., Good,
J.E.G., Bell, S.A., Stevens, P.A., Norris, D., Bayfield, N. &
Ward, L.K.
JNCC Report 308
European
significance of British woodland types (1998)
Rodwell, J. & Dring, J.
English Nature Research Reports, No. 460
Measuring
long term ecological change in British woodlands (1971–2000). A
pilot re-survey of 14 sites from the ITE/NCC 'Bunce 1971' woodland
survey and two sites from the 1971 Native Pinewood
Survey (2001)
Smart, S.M., Bunce, R.G.H., Black, H.J., Ray, N., Bunce F., Kirby,
K., Watson, R. & Singleton, D.
English Nature Research Reports, No. 461
Wood-pasture
and parkland habitat action plan: progress report
2001 (2002)
Watson, R.
English Nature Research Reports, No. 459
Common Standards Monitoring for Woodland
Forestry Commission
Please note that the woodland webpages are under
revision, and will be updated.