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Survey finds 'significantly more' ancient woodland

Alex PopeBedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire
News imageFrieda Rummenhohl Balls Wood, showing lots of woodland trees, brown leaves on the ground, green leaves on the trees and a wooden bridge over a stream. Frieda Rummenhohl
Balls Wood in Hertford is a large, varied woodland boasting wide sunny rides, the trust said

There is "significantly more" ancient woodland in Hertfordshire than previously recorded, new information confirmed.

The Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust (HMWT) said advancements in digital mapping and identification showed 50% more documented sites than originally compiled in an inventory of ancient woodland between 1981 and 1992.

It said the data submitted to Natural England would help to protect against future development and to improve management of sites for forestry and leisure.

The trust's records centre manager, Alex Waechter, said: "We have a chance to combat the losses and fragmentation of the past two centuries through the creation of new linking habitats and wildlife corridors."

News imageFrieda Rummenhohl Astonbury Wood, showing a large number of big trees, with green foliage on them, and a blanket of bluebells beneath them. Frieda Rummenhohl
Astonbury Wood is an ancient woodland that is known to have bluebells

The newly recorded ancient woodland was the result of better digital mapping, the consideration of smaller woodlands and a new category for ancient pasture and parkland that did not exist previously, the wildlife trust explained.

Waechter added: "This project utilised decades of botanical survey by professional ecologists and skilled volunteers, knowledge of local places by the people who live there, and a career's worth of local insight from our contributing historian."

News imageJenny Sherwen Herb-Paris, a plant with very large green leaves, and a stem with a flower at the top, that looks spiky. There are trees in the distance with lots of leaves on. Jenny Sherwen
Herb Paris is "locally rare, declining and very distinctive", the trust said

Fiona Mahon, HMWT director of nature recovery, said ancient woodlands were a "special type of woodland that have developed for centuries and have had continuous woodland cover since 1600".

They are home to rare and threatened species, such as the bluebell, the herb Paris, the barbastelle bat and the red-listed and locally declining marsh tit.

"They have the potential to support the highest diversity of species of any woodland type and play a vital role in the fight against climate change by capturing and storing carbon," Mahon added.

News imageJosh Kubale Gobions Wood, showing lots of trees with green leaves, on large tree trunks, one laying on the ground and brown soil on the ground. Josh Kubale
Gobions Wood in Potters Bar is a woodland with bluebells and wood anemones, the trust said

HMWT said mapping from the Ancient Woodland Inventory would inform its "emerging nature recovery strategy and action plan, supporting the charity's efforts to protect, connect and expand woodlands across the county".

It will work to help deliver "the national and global target to protect and restore at least 30% of land for nature by 2030".

News imageMark Hamblin Herb-Paris plant, showing green leaves and white flowers, with yellow stems, in a woodland. Mark Hamblin
The wildlife trust said the locally rare, declining and distinctive herb Paris could be seen in Hertfordshire woods

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