Introduction

This chapter presents a range of information about the woodland environment, mostly using sources that are outside the scope of National Statistics.  They are included to provide additional context to the topic.

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

All of the statistics presented in this chapter have been previously released.

The statistics on the populations of wild birds (Table 5.1 and Figure 5.1) have been revised since “Forestry Statistics 2018”.  For further details on revisions, see the Environment section of the Sources chapter.

A copy of all environment tables can be accessed in spreadsheet format from the Data Downloads web page at https://www.forestresearch.gov.uk/tools-and-resources/statistics/data-downloads/.

Key findings

The main findings are:

• The UK woodland bird index has remained relatively stable since the early 1990s, following a period of long term decline.  Most of this decline has occurred in woodland specialist species.
• In 2019, 85% of the UK public agreed with the statement “action should be taken by authorities and woodland managers to protect trees from damaging pests and diseases”.

Additional resources

Sources chapter: Environment