Friday 26 September 2014

Forest seedling app solves problem of identifying young trees and shrubs

The Forestry Commission has developed a new smart phone application that supports identification of young (<1 year), self-set tree and shrub seedlings that are commonly encountered in British woodlands and forests.
The main features of the app are as follows:
  • Accurately identify and record self-set tree and shrub seedlings
  • Record field notes and locations using GPS without a mobile signal
  • Includes high-resolution images of leaves and other seedling features that can be used for identification
  • Uses dynamic filtering to allow users to identify seedlings based upon a number of key characteristics including leaf shapes and stem hairs
  • Supports species searches and includes listings by common and scientific names


The field guide app has been developed by the Forestry Commission from content supplied by Forest Research. It costs £1.49 and is available from iTunes Store and Google Play.

Monday 8 September 2014

British Woodlands Survey 2014

BWS 2014 focusses on ancient woodland, planted ancient woodland sites (PAWS) and restoration. Following on from BWS 2012, this latest survey is exploring current management practices and attitudes towards ancient woodland and PAWS.

The findings will support a Heritage Lottery funded outreach project, for owners and managers of ancient woodland or PAWS. The project, co-ordinated by the Woodland Trust, is offering advice and site assessments from locally based Project Officers in 10 areas of the UK at no charge to landowners and managers.

The survey is open to all woodland owners and managers. It will be available in English and Welsh. The survey will take only 20 minutes to complete, and will be live throughout September. There is valuable information provided at the end of the survey on how to identify ancient woodland and PAWS, and contact details for the local Project Officers providing expert advice to owners and managers should you wish to enquire about a visit.

About BWS

The BWS series provides an evidence base on which future polices and practice can be developed to support further sustainable forest management for multiple ecosystem services in Britain. We intend to conduct regular major surveys every four years, interspersed by smaller surveys on particular themes.


If you are interested in commissioning a future BWS then we would be pleased to discuss your aims. We are also interested in sharing selected data with researchers with a view to publishing original research.

BWS 2012


The first BWS survey was conducted in 2012, and was designed as a major survey gathering information about ownership, markets and management. As such it was intended as a baseline against which data from future major surveys can be compared. BWS 2012 itself built upon an important series of surveys undertaken by the Department of Land Economy at the University of Cambridge since 1963.

A summary of the 2012 report can be found here.

Wednesday 3 September 2014

Game Management in Woodlands - FREE event

The good people at the High Weald AONB have organised a seminar on game management in woodland.  

This free event will take place on Tuesday 7th October (10:15 to 2:00 pm).

Places are limited - please book using this link.  For more information please contact Matt Pitts at the High Weald AONB.