Ancient woodlands are rediscovered

A two-year project across three counties (Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire) has uncovered more than 1,300 hectares (3,271 acres) of previously unknown ancient woodland.

The total area of ancient woodland in the area is now known to be 12,552 hectares (31,016 acres).

The woods that have existed since 1600, are packed with a range of forest-loving plant life, fungi, insects and micro-organisations, that make up some 2.5% of UK land (609,990 hectares or 1,507,318 acres).

Towards the 'ancient woodland' designation

To be designated as ancient woodland, an area would have to have been wooded continuously since at least 1600 AD. This includes ancient semi-natural woodland mainly made up of trees and shrubs native to the site, usually arising from natural regeneration.

Some lichens can indicate that an area has been wooded for a long time. Remnant features like coppice stools can give clues to a wood's history. Herb-paris is also an indicator plant, and an abundance of primrose can also be a sign of ancient woodland.

Once a piece of woodland is designated ancient it will receive some protection from development.

Wildlife Trust

The project was run by the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire.

Habitat survey officer Katharine Flach said what most surprised her was to discover that ancient woodland can be all around us, across all the three counties.

"There are lots of small pockets nearer to urbanisation that weren't known about, or weren't part of the Inventory (Ancient Woodland Inventory) and often are publicly accessible."

The Research

Ms Flach began her research by looking at the Inventory, which was compiled in the 1980s and 1990s as part of a national update.

She then looked into centuries-old maps that are held by Cambridge University and the Cambridgeshire Archives. Next came the deployment of LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) to map the range of existing woodland. The potential new ancient woodland sites were also assessed on the ground.

Ms Flach said: "… there are a variety of things to look for, some of the large trees are old, but it's not only that, it's more important to look at the ground flora - indicator plants include bluebell, wood anemone, woodruff and ransoms - there is a great diversity of species that exists only in ancient woodland. They've had hundreds of years of growth and decay, that has allowed those species to build up. While planting new woodland can attract these species, they are very slow to spread... it's hard for them to go from isolated ancient woodlands to newer and even fairly old woodland."

The future of ancient woodlands

Ms Flach said she was optimistic about the future of the rare habitats: "It used to be they earned their way by being useful valuable resource, which we don't see them as any more, but I think people realise now the importance of trees, of nature and are beginning to look to ways to improve.”

"Knowing where those really valuable biodiverse areas are means you can try and join up these landscapes and draw up buffers around these really important sites."

***

ARTICLE: More about Ancient Woodlands 

ARTICLE: New ancient woodland discovered on Norwich Western Link route

ARTICLE: The plan to revive the UK’s ancient woods (and seven species that live in them)

Carl Dodd, Property Revolutions Ltd.