#491: Ancient Woodlands

In Britain, an ancient woodland is defined as:

"an area of woodland that, through documentary, archaeological or botanical evidence, can be shown to have been in existence before 1600."

This was a time before the widespread planting of trees began. The pervasiveness of planting makes it less likely to be sure that the wood predated 1600. 

Few of these ancient woodlands will date back to the original wildwood: the arboreal canopy that flourished as the glaciers withdrew from the country.

Are there any near where you live?

Image: Wistman's Wood - ancient woodland in Dartmoor - Alan Parkinson - shared on Flickr under CC license.

#281: Natural History Reading List #17: 'Irreplaceable'

'Irreplaceable' is a book by Julian Hoffman.

It is subtitled 'The Fight to Save our Wild Places' and focusses on a number of locations which are threatened with being lost.

 It has a useful section on ancient woodlands which outlines very clearly what that term means, and the distinction between that and the wildwood.

Each section is relevant to particular types of ecosystems, and the book explores the nature of the threats they face, and the efforts being made to protect them. By the time I read through it, there were lots of post it notes for potentially useful sections.

A very good book as an introduction to the idea of wilderness, and the relationship between humans and nature.

He touches on the plastic threat when he visits the beach in the chapter entitled 'A world within water'.

He describes the discovery of the plastic nurdles which make up a part of any handful of beach sand in most of the world.

"For all its unquestionable usefulness for the human race, a convenience that's turned out to be irressistible to us, plastic places an unearthly burden on the rest of the living world."

My copy was loaned from Norwich Library service.