Ancient woodland takes hundreds of years to establish and is defined as an irreplaceable habitat. It is a valuable natural asset important for:

• wildlife (which include rare and threatened species)
• soils
• carbon capture and storage
• contributing to the seed bank and genetic diversity
• recreation, health and wellbeing
• cultural, historical and landscape value

It’s any area that’s been wooded continuously since at least 1600 AD. It includes:

• ancient semi-natural woodland mainly made up of trees and shrubs native to the site, usually arising from natural regeneration
• plantations on ancient woodland sites - replanted with conifer or broadleaved trees that retain ancient woodland features, such as undisturbed soil, ground flora and fungi

Ancient and veteran trees

Government guidance states that Ancient and veteran trees can be individual trees or groups of trees within wood pastures, historic parkland, hedgerows, orchards, parks or other areas. They are often found outside ancient woodlands. They are also irreplaceable habitats.

Ancient trees

An ancient tree is exceptionally valuable. Attributes can include its:

• great age
• size
• condition
• biodiversity value as a result of significant wood decay and the habitat created from the ageing process
• cultural and heritage value

Very few trees of any species become ancient.

Veteran trees

A veteran tree may not be very old, but it has significant decay features,  such as branch death and hollowing. These features contribute to its exceptional biodiversity, cultural and heritage value.

All ancient trees are veteran trees, but not all veteran trees are ancient.

The age at which a tree becomes ancient or veteran will vary by species because each species ages at a different rate.

The above descriptions are taken from the Government guidance website. Please follow the link below for more information:

The Ancient Woodland Inventory (AWI) in England identifies and classifies those woods that share centuries of continuity on relatively undisturbed soils. They cover only 2.6% of England, making up less than a third of our total woodland resource. As a group, they are our most important woodlands for their rich wildlife and cultural heritage. They create a link with the past: ecological touchstones in a changing landscape. Once lost they cannot be recreated.

The existing AWI has grown to become an essential reference tool for planners and developers, policymakers, land owners, foresters, conservationists, landscape historians, and many others keen to protect and restore these special wooded habitats .However, originally produced in the 1980’s, without the benefits of computerised mapping techniques, the AWI inevitably contains many omissions and inaccuracies, and perhaps more crucially, it does not include any woods smaller than 2 hectares.

Despite strong planning protection policies, ancient woodlands are being lost or damaged by development or inappropriate management simply because they are not recorded on the Inventory. This is particularly true of smaller sites.

MEAS and Merseyside BioBank are providing ecological and technical support to NE and the WT with the AWI Update Project.

What we are doing

• Merseyside BioBank are leading on a Natural England Ancient Woodland Inventory Project update with support from MEAS including our Archaeology/Historic Team (link to page) for the North Merseyside area
• This Project will see Ancient Woodland including small areas (less than 2ha) identified for addition to the national AWI. Woodland which is not considered to be ‘ancient’ is expected to added to a new long-established woodland dataset for England
• Phase 1 of the Project  consisted of mapping lost woodland within the North Merseyside area . In Phase 2 the existing woodland sites were checked against the previously designated AW sites and Phase 3 included checks for presence on historic mapping. Lidar was also used to identify any notable features of cultural heritage
• Working with a local botanical expert, a list of North Merseyside Ancient Woodland indicator species has been established and potential Ancient Woodland sites have been identified with presence/absence of these indicator species. Ground truthing of those sites without indicator species started in Spring 2023 and will be repeated annually
• This important Project is important for the protection our remaining highest distinctiveness (irreplaceable) woodland and will help map opportunities for nature recovery
• In parallel with this work, we are working with Local Authority tree officers and Woodland Trust to improve the Ancient Tree Inventory data

How will the AWI  be used ?

The AWI Project will result in an updated national Inventory which is more representative of North Merseyside Ancient Woodland. The updated Inventory will:

• Provide an evidence base to help map local Irreplaceable Habitats and underpin landscape-scale woodland recovery through the emerging Local Nature Recovery Project and Mersey Forest Plan refresh
• Provide greater certainty to decision makers including Local Planning Authorities, developers and consultants