Ancient woods and other places with an unbroken history of tree cover are uniquely valuable.
Although diminished to a tiny fraction of their former extent, they are still widespread in our countryside, and occasionally in our towns. Many have been recorded on ancient woodland inventories, but others, often the smaller fragments, remain unidentified and as such are especially vulnerable to damage and destruction.
The wildlife value of these natural heirlooms lies in the fact that their ecological communities have developed over a long period of time, with features accumulating over hundreds or thousands of years. The result is a complex and integrated system.