(According to the Woodland Trust, 108 ancient woods are in the frame, when you also count those indirectly affected.) Just 2% of Britain is ancient woodland (older than 400 years, in England and Wales). But ancient woodland, says Luci Ryan, of the Woodland Trust, is irreplaceable. Every developer threatening ancient woodland (there are 995 examples of development on or beside ancient woodland) claims theirs is just a small slice; a finite resource continues to be eroded. “We don’t have much ancient woodland in this area; only little pockets of it survive,” he says as he shows me its 300-year-old oaks and the skeletons of last spring’s bluebells (another sign of ancient woodland).

Source: The Guardian October 06, 2019 14:01 UTC