Ancient Woodland Training Day
Ancient Woodlands make up only 1.5% of the land area of Scotland but are the very highest conservation value woodlands we have. They are a scarce resource and require careful management, so every year Scottish Woodlands holds a special training course for staff.
This year twelve Scottish Woodlands staff visited Cashel Forest on Loch Lomond to learn more about ancient woodland flora and their relationship with woodland site types. The course was led by botanical expert Carol Crawford (centre) who gave an informed and interesting tour of the various woodland types found at Cashel and introduced us to many of the flowers and plants that makes the biodiversity of these woodlands so special.
Management of ancient woodlands and the restoration of ancient woodland sites that historically have been planted with non-native trees is an important element of forest certification. Understanding the quality and diversity of the ground flora, regardless of previous management is a key step in developing appropriate management proposals.
As usual the attendees were fully engaged with the training continuing the reputation of the Ancient Woodland Course is one of the most popular and enjoyable training events in the calendar. Staff are pictured if front of the largest and possibly the oldest wild crab apple tree in Scotland.