Forestry

Ancient woodland restoration

We’re specialists in helping landowners restore and revive planted ancient woodland sites (PAWS).

In England and Wales, ancient woodland is defined as ‘an area that has been continuously wooded since the 1600s’ – and now covers only 2% of the UK. Our work with the Woodland Trust and their countrywide Ancient Woodland Restoration Project allows us to provide a free service to PAWS landowners.

This service includes a woodland survey, a recommendation report to help landowners achieve their goals for the woodland while being sensitive to the surviving features – plus a set of maps to show where work should be prioritised.

The aim of the Ancient Woodland Restoration Project is to identify important surviving woodland features such as deadwood, specialist flora and archaeological features – as well as highlighting risks from pests, coarse vegetation and invasive species. In addition, the project identifies areas where conifers are causing harm, and where they are in low quantities and providing diversity.