Identifying ancient woodland

What is ancient woodland?

Ancient woods are areas continuously wooded for at least 400 years. They are irreplaceable, our richest habitats for wildlife and reservoirs of historical information. Even an ancient wood which has been replanted, perhaps with conifers, may still have remnants of ancient woodland wildlife and historical features and has potential to be restored.

Ancient woodland is not a statutory designation - it does not give the wood legal protection - but if you are trying to protect a wood from damage or destruction if it is ancient it helps to add weight to your case. Increasingly, national, regional and local planning policies mention protection of ancient woodland in planning documents. The Woodland Trust will act wherever possible to secure protection of ancient woodland, so whatever the threat, it is worth finding out whether your wood is ancient or not.

Ancient woodland inventories

In Britain, ancient woods over two hectares in size are mostly recorded on ancient woodland inventories held by English Nature, the Countryside Council for Wales and Scottish Natural Heritage. Originally the boundaries of ancient woodland were drawn onto maps, but since then they have been digitised. The Woodland Trust holds a full set of the current digitised ancient woodland inventories and they are now on this website. You can check whether the wood is ancient here and from there you can fill in a form to let us know about an ancient wood under threat.

Occasionally ancient woods are not identified on the inventories, either because they were too small or were missed when the inventories were drawn up. If your wood is not on the inventory, you may still be able to show it is ancient through some historical research and/or a basic ecological survey, and you can then inform the relevant agency. English Nature have produced a useful free booklet Guidelines for identifying ancient woodland which will help you decide if your local wood is ancient or not.

In Northern Ireland no inventory of ancient woodland was produced, but the Woodland Trust is now developing one that should be completed by the end of 2005 (for more information see www.backonthemap.org.uk). We have already carried out map searches to identify woods that may be ancient. Contact us to find out if your threatened wood is one of them.

What you can do

If you know that your wood is ancient, then make it clear in any activity that you pursue, as it will add weight to your case. Let the Woodland Trust know by submitting details via this website or contacting us on 01476 581111 – we may be able to support your campaign.

Even if you find that your wood is not ancient, this doesn’t mean it is not worth saving, although it is unlikely the Woodland Trust will become directly involved in any campaign. Woods which are not ancient (ie that are less than 400 years old) can still be very important for wildlife, as features in the local landscape, or as places for people to enjoy, especially in urban areas or areas with relatively low woodland cover.

Find out more

• English Nature have produced a useful booklet
  Guidelines for identifying ancient woodland
  This helps identification of small ancient woods that don’t appear on the inventories. Telephone the enquiries service on 01733 455101 quoting publication number IN5.0/1(F6.35) or ISBN number 1857162536
   
• For more information on ancient woods see:
  Woodland Trust’s position statement on ancient       woodland or contact 01476 581135 for a hard copy.
   

• For more detailed general reading on ancient woodland see:

  • Oliver Rackham, 1976, Trees and woodland in the British landscape (Weidenfeld and Nicholson).

  • Oliver Rackham, 2003, Ancient woodland: its history, vegetation and uses in England (New Edition Castlepoint Press, Kirkcudbrightshire).

  • T C Smout (Editor), 1997, Scottish woodland history: Essays and perspectives (Scottish Cultural Press).
     

• Publications about ancient woodland available from Scottish Natural Heritage include:
  Natural Heritage Futures, Forests and Woodlands Telephone 01738 444177 for a hard copy.
   
• The Forestry Commission in Scotland has produced a booklet Native woodlands of Scotland
  Telephone 0870 1214180 for a hard copy (ISBN 0855383577).
   
• For more background information see the Woodland Trust’s publications
  • Why the UK’s ancient woodland is still under threat
  • From wildwood to concrete jungle
     

• When is a wood or tree under threat
   
• Identifying ancient trees