AN INVENTORY OF ANCIENT WOODLAND FOR ENGLAND AND WALES

Since 1981 the Nature Conservancy Council has been compiling an inventory of ancient woodland for England and Wales. We describe the methods used and problems encountered. The current area of ancient woodland and the losses of ancient semi-natural woodland over the last 50 years are quantified for each county. Ancient woodland covers about 2.6% of England and Wales. Some 7% of the area of ancient woodland present in c. 1930 has been cleared for other land uses while 38% by area has been replaced with plantations, usually of non-native species. The extent of these losses varies from county to county and between woods of different sizes: large woods, for example, are more likely to have been replanted. The inventories form the basis for further more detailed surveys and have contributed to the development of woodland conservation policies. They provide a baseline against which the success of these policies can be monitored.