Tools and Resources
There is a growing requirement across government, non-governmental organisations and the private sector for better evidence concerning the ecological condition of British woodlands. British woodlands are dynamic entities and their ecological condition changes in response to factors such as changing woodland management, general land use practices and climate change. Evidence of the current state of woodland ecological condition and how it changes over time is required to inform the targeting of resources and woodland management in support of biodiversity and ecological resilience. The following provides a statistical assessment of 15 indicators of woodland ecological condition and a further classification of woodland habitat into its condition status of favourable, intermediate and unfavourable.
The National Forest Inventory (NFI) provides a record of the size, distribution and information on other key attributes of forests and woodlands in Great Britain. The NFI is composed of two elements: an earth observation programme to identify the location and extent of woodlands and a fieldwork programme to assess woodland composition.
To assess woodland ecological condition in Britain, the NFI recorded ecological data as part of the fieldwork programme (NFI survey cycle 2010-2015) and that was used to assess 15 woodland ecological condition indicators (WEC indicators) at each woodland stand surveyed. In turn, the data for the 15 WEC indicators were compared to a series of 15 benchmarks representative of a woodland stand of ancient semi-natural woodland (ASNW) in good condition, enabling a score of condition to be calculated. This score was used to classify stands according to their ecological condition: favourable, intermediate or unfavourable. These results can be collated and reported upon for any geographic area in Britain (minimum size 30,000 ha) and in this series of reports and supporting data statistics, scores and classes are presented by native woodland type and priority habitat type, broken down by country and region in Britain. A series of reports and supporting data have been produced to describe the methodology used, the statistical results and the classification results.
For a brief summary of the study please refer to the report NFI woodland ecological condition in Great Britain: executive summary.
For more information about the methodology used to conduct this study please refer to NFI woodland ecological condition in Great Britain: methodology report.
For more information about the statistical results for other countries please refer to NFI woodland ecological condition in [country]: statistics.
For more information about the classification of woodland to describe ecological condition please refer to the report NFI woodland ecological condition in Great Britain: classification results.
The methodology underpinning the NFI WEC reports, scores and statistics
Breakout of the WEC scores by woodland nativeness and by indicator for GB, country and region
Breakout of the WEC scores by woodland habitat and by indicator for GB, country and region
Breakout of the tree age statistics by woodland nativeness for GB, country and region
Breakout of the grazing damage statistics by woodland nativeness for GB, country and region
Breakout of the invasive species statistics by woodland nativeness for GB, country and region
Breakout of the vegetation statistics by woodland habitat for GB, country and region
Breakout of the vertical structure statistics by woodland habitat for GB, country and region
Breakout of the veteran tree statistics by woodland habitat for GB, country and region
Breakout of the deadwood statistics by woodland habitat for GB, country and region
Breakout of the woodland size statistics by woodland habitat for GB, country and region
Breakout of the statistics of the combined WEC indicators by woodland habitat for GB, country and region
NFI Woodland Ecological Condition Scores report for woodlands across Britain
NFI Woodland Ecological Condition Statistics report for woodlands across Britain
NFI Woodland Ecological Condition Scores report for woodlands in England
NFI Woodland Ecological Condition Statistics report for woodlands in England
NFI Woodland Ecological Condition Scores report for woodlands in Scotland
NFI Woodland Ecological Condition Statistics report for woodlands in Scotland
NFI Woodland Ecological Condition Scores report for woodlands in Wales
NFI Woodland Ecological Condition Statistics report for woodlands in Wales
Breakout of the number of native species statistics by woodland nativeness for GB, country and region
Breakout of the native occupancy statistics by woodland nativeness for GB, country and region
Breakout of the open space statistics by woodland nativeness for GB, country and region
Breakout of the land cover statistics by woodland nativeness for GB, country and region
Breakout of the regeneration within the component group statistics by woodland nativeness for GB, country and region
Breakout of the regeneration within the population statistics by woodland nativeness for GB, country and region
Breakout of the pest and disease statistics by woodland nativeness for GB, country and region
Breakout of the vegetation statistics by woodland nativeness for GB, country and region
Breakout of the vertical structure statistics by woodland nativeness for GB, country and region
Breakout of the veteran tree statistics by woodland nativeness for GB, country and region
Breakout of the deadwood statistics by woodland nativeness for GB, country and region
Breakout of the woodland size statistics by woodland nativeness for GB, country and region
Breakout of the statistics of the combined WEC indicators by woodland nativeness for GB, country and region
Breakout of the tree age statistics by woodland habitat for GB, country and region
Breakout of the grazing damage statistics by woodland habitat for GB, country and region
Breakout of the invasive species statistics by woodland habitat for GB, country and region
Breakout of the number of native species statistics by woodland habitat for GB, country and region
Breakout of the native species occupancy statistics by woodland habitat for GB, country and region
Breakout of the open space statistics by woodland habitat for GB, country and region
Breakout of the land cover statistics by woodland habitat for GB, country and region
Breakout of the regeneration within the component group statistics by woodland habitat for GB, country and region
Breakout of the regeneration within the population statistics by woodland habitat for GB, country and region
Breakout of the pest and disease statistics by woodland habitat for GB, country and region