Introduction

This chapter contains statistics on:

• UK woodland area;
• certified woodland area;
• areas of new planting and restocking; and
• felling.

Estimates for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are included in addition to UK totals. International comparisons are provided in the International Forestry chapter. Further information on the data sources and methodology used to compile the figures is provided in the Sources chapter.

Figures on woodland area and certified woodland area at March 2016 and on new planting and restocking for the period 2015-16 were previously published in “Woodland Area, Planting and Restocking: 2016 edition”, released on 16 June 2016. Some figures for previous years have been revised from those previously published. For further details on revisions, see the Woodland Areas and Planting section of the Sources chapter.

A copy of all woodland area and planting tables is available to download as an Excel spreadsheet from the Tables for Download page. Longer time series are also available for some tables. These can be accessed from our Woodland Area and Planting Statistics web page at www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/infd-7aqknx.

Key findings

The main findings are:

• The area of woodland in the UK at 31 March 2016 is estimated to be 3.16 million hectares. This represents 13% of the total land area in the UK, 10% in England, 15% in Wales, 18% in Scotland and 8% in Northern Ireland.
• Of the total UK woodland area, 0.86 million hectares (27%) is owned or managed by the Forestry Commission (in England and Scotland), Natural Resources Wales (in Wales) or the Forest Service (in Northern Ireland).
• The total certified woodland area in the UK at 31 March 2016 is 1.35 million hectares, including all Forestry Commission/Natural Resources Wales/Forest Service woodland. Overall, 43% of the UK woodland area is certified.
• Six thousand hectares of new woodland were created in the UK in 2015-16, mostly with broadleaved species.
• Fourteen thousand hectares of woodland restocking were reported in the UK in 2015-16, mostly with conifers.
• A total of 186 sites were served with a Statutory Plant Health Notice in 2015-16, requiring a total of 1.8 thousand hectares of woodland to be felled.