Woodland in the UK now covers around 2.8 million hectares representing nearly 12% of the UK land area. Many different woodland ecosystems exist although the greatest land cover is still represented by coniferous forest at around 60% of the total. This article describes the most common woodland ecosystems.
Broadleaved woodland
Natural broadleaved woodland consisting of ash, beech, field maple and
hazel. The ground flora consisting of dogs mercury and wild garlic are
indicative that this is ancient woodland. Natural broadleaved woodland
is now most common in the south of the UK in counties like Surrey, Hampshire
and Sussex where high levels of woodland cover remain. These counties
have around 19% overall woodland cover - 42% of this being ancient woodland.
A thinned broadleaved plantation of beech about 50 years old. Broadleaved plantations are usually thinned on a regular basis before the mature trees are harvested between 60 and 150 years - fast growing trees like wild cherry are typically harvested first with oak as much as a century later. After final harvest the woodland is replanted. Plantation woodlands are a development of the late 19th and 20th Centuries and have little in common with traditional woodland management that has existed for centuries.
Mixed woodland
Natural mixed woodland in the UK is quite rare simply because there
are few native conifers (yew and scots pine) and their distribution
is now very limited. The image illustrates mixed ash, beech, whitebeam
and yew woodland.
Mixed plantation woodland is common throughout much of the UK. Typically
a deciduous timber tree like ash will be grown amongst a faster growing
spruce or pine crop. Elsewhere it is possible to find coniferous forest
trees that have been planted amongst natural broadleaved woodland. The
practice which was common in the 1950s and 60s is now being reversed
as it is recognised as environmentally damaging.
Coniferous woodland
Natural coniferous woodland in the UK is now a rare habitat. Only a
few remnants of the ancient Caledonian Forest that covered large parts
of the Highlands with scots pine now remain. Further south, small areas
of yew woodland are all that remain.
Plantation coniferous woodland is widespread in the UK. In the East
where the climate is drier, trees like Corsican Pine will dominate.
In the West where the climate is much wetter, the unfairly maligned
sitka spruce dominates. There are now about 1.6 million hectares of
coniferous woodland in the UK representing around 6% of land area.
Coppice
Pure broadleaved coppice used to be widespread but is now a comparatively
rare ecosystem. In the main the tree species found are sweet chestnut,
hazel and willow. The image illustrates sweet chestnut that is coppiced
on a 10 year rotation where the cut material is chipped and used as
fuel source in a wood burning boiler.
Coppice with standards
This is much more common than pure coppice and in some areas is the
dominant natural woodland. Coppice with standards is a management system
that grows a mix of coppice interspersed with timber trees that are
felled at 70 - 100 years. Felled trees are replaced, either through
selection of a nearby sapling or by replanting. The system is now neglected
and most standards are allowed to grow too old, as in this image.
Short rotation coppice
Short rotation coppice is the practice of growing small sized timber
for energy use on a 3 or 4 year rotation. The most successful trees
for this purpose are very fast growing cultivars of willow although
poplar is also used. Short rotation coppice (SRC) is mechanically harvested
and in most respects more like an arable crop than a woodland system.
The area grown is still small but we anticipate significant growth in
the coming years.
Agroforestry
There is very little agroforestry in the UK although in other countries
like New Zealand it is more widely practiced. In this example grazing
grass, hazel and poplars are all grown together. In theory each part
of the system provides some benefits to the others allowing the tree
systems to be grown without much loss to the grass or arable crop. Trees
spacings are typically 5 - 15 metres apart.
Poplar plantations
Poplar is almost always grown in pure stands. After thinning the trees
will be spaced at 8 metre centres and harvest will occur at about 25
years. Although poplar is a broadleaved tree, the timber resembles the
properties of coniferous softwood. Typically it is used as a basic construction
timber.
Premium timber woodland
Some species of tree lend themselves to be grown for butts of prime
quality timber that will be mostly used in the veneer trade. These butts
rarely result by accident and pruning of young trees will be essential.
Typically tree choice involves either wild cherry or walnut although
holly, laburnum and yew are also grown.
Statistics for Woodland
|
2000 |
2001 |
2002 |
2003 |
2004 |
2005 |
2006 |
|
| Broadleaved - area (000 hectares) |
1131 | 1131 | 1143 | 1155 | 1165 | 1178 | Coniferous - area (000 hectares) |
1663 | 1660 | 1658 | 1652 | 1651 | 1647 |
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