Habitats - woodland
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Background on Woodlands.
Some example woodland habitats.
Woodland as a habitat.
The British Isles was for thousands of years, after the last ice-age, covered with natural forests, known as wildwood. There is non of this wildwood left in Britain today, nor any records of when it was cleared by man. This means that much of our 'old natural' woodland seen today has probably been managed by man at sometime in it's past history.
Ways woodland is used and managed
Throughout our history, until recent times, woods have been part of our natural history and managed in various traditional ways.
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Woodland - land on which trees have arisen naturally. These woods have been managed by the art of woodmanship to yield successive 'crops' of firewood, poles and rods used for fencing, wattle etc. Cut down trees will replace themselves by natural growth.
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Wood-pasture - land used similar to above, but also including grazing animals.
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Non-woodland - trees in hedgerow and field (This is covered on page about hedgerows as a habitat)
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Orchards - not covered here.
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Trees of gardens, streets and school grounds
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Plantation - these are stands of tree which are not natural vegetation and usually 1 or 2 species often conifers. This is the basis of modern forestry and the trees used usually die when felled and are replaced by a newly planted plantation.
The first five traditions go back to at least Anglo-Saxon times.
When managed the trees of a wood are divided into timber trees and underwood. From this comes the distinction between wood and timber - we talk of wood fires and timber buildings which gives a clue as to the differences.
Tree re-growth from stump after felling
Underwood
Wood is what is cut from underwood and includes wood for burning as fuel as well as rods and poles used for fencing, wattle and various other specialist uses. The underwood is the smaller trees, bushes and lower branches from timber trees this is felled throughout the wood on a rotational basis with an area of the wood being felled, or coppiced, each year. A managed wood is no more destroyed by felling than a hay meadow is by taking a cut of hay. Trees when cut or coppiced will produce new growth from the coppice stools or suckers from the roots.
Timber
Timber comes from the large timber trees which are not felled as underwood, but allowed to grow to maturity before being felled and used for beams and planks etc and are to valuable or big to burn. This timber wood is allowed to grow for several cycles of coppicing and then felled when mature.
Woods result from the long-running interactions between human activities and natural processes. In more recent times (probably since WWII) many woods have ceased to be managed and fallen into 'semi-wildness' as the natural process becomes dominant, whether this is a good think or bad thing remains to be seen....
Living Organisms found in UK Woodlands.
Here are some examples of the plants and animals which can be found in the different UK Woodland habitats. Use it to show learners what to look for or as a review of what they may have seen
Some example Organisms of Woodland Habitats.
Source background information on Woodlands: 'The Illustrated History of the countryside' O. Rackham 2000
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