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What does ancient mean?
What is ancient woodland exactly?
Ancient woodland is land that has been continually wooded since at least AD1600.
After 1600, planting of woodland became more common, so woodland that pre-dates
this is more likely to have grown up naturally. Some ancient woodlands may even
be a link back to the original Wildwood that covered the UK around 10,000 years
ago, after the last ice age.
Ancient woods have developed on undisturbed soils. This means that woods planted
or growing up naturally today will not become ancient woods in 400 years’ time,
as the soils on which they have developed have been modifed by modern
agriculture or industry, and the fragmentation of natural habitats in today’s
landscape hampers species natural movements and interactions.
The long continuity of ancient woods makes them our most valuable habitat. They
support a huge range of species, many which are unable to move easily so they
only live in ancient woods.
However this is not the whole picture- there are two
types of ancient woodland.
An ancient wood does not have legal protection but identification on the ancient
woodland inventory may add weight to your case when protecting a wood from
damage or destruction.
Ancient woodland is not a statutory designation but national, regional and local
planning policies protect ancient woodland in planning policy.
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 Trees
An ancient tree is a tree that makes you go 'wow' and maybe is the biggest
fattest tree in the neighbourhood.
Maybe it is also the subject of a
Tree Preservation Order.
It varies by species as to when a tree becomes ancient. For instance, an oak
tree is considered to be ancient when the girth is measured at 1000cms plus but
then a silver birch only needs to be 300cms.
If you would like to know more about ancient trees, we have plenty of literature
which is freely available:
How to measure
the girth of a tree
Ancient Tree Guides
If you would like to help us map the locations of ancient trees in the UK,
please register to join the
Ancient Tree Hunt. |
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