This book explains ways to record the flora and fauna found in woodland and outlines the sources you can use to find out more about the history and management of an area. Whether you have just a few hours, or a few years, there are examples that you can follow to find out more about this important habitat.
Woods include some of the richest terrestrial wildlife sites in Britain, but some are under threat and many are neglected, such that they are not as rich as they might be. If we are to protect them or increase their diversity we need first to know what species they contain, how they have come to be as they are, to understand how they fit into the wider landscape. Conservation surveys are the bedrock on which subsequent protection and management action is based.
There is not one method that will be right for all situations and needs, so the methods discussed range from what one can find out online, to what can be seen on a general walk round a wood, to the insights that can come from more detailed survey and monitoring approaches. Fast-evolving techniques such as eDNA surveys and the use of LiDAR are touched on.
This book will be useful to anyone who wants to find out more about the wildlife in woodland, but particularly to students working on woodland projects, wildlife trust members getting to grips with their reserves, and conservation professionals who have the difficult tasks of trying to decide how important particular woods are and how they should be managed.
Keith Kirby was for over 30 years a woodland ecologist with Natural England and its predecessors and has a wealth of experience from different surveys across Britain.
Jeanette Hall now has a similar role in Scottish Natural Heritage and adds an upland perspective to the mix. Both have drawn extensively on the experience of past and present colleagues in the agencies and elsewhere to create this account.
Product information
25 February 2019
220 pages
74 figures, maps
18 tables
270 x 144 mm
480 g
ISBN 9781784271848