In the UK woodland, particularly ancient woods, support more species than any other habitat. The majority of our wildlife uses woodland at least part of their time and some species, such as dormice, are dependent on it.
It support so many species because of the vareity of different habitats and niches usually found within a wood. This is partly because of the sheer number of plants, including trees, that are found there.
There is also a wide variety of different heights or layers, such as the forest floor, the shrub layer, the smaller trees, the taller trees and the canopy area, which all contribute to additional habitat.
Ancient trees, in particular, (which are found both within and outside woodland) are full of nooks and crannies, holes and dead and rotting wood. These provide the perfect homes for thousands of species of plants, animals and fungi, including many rare and threatened species.
Clusters of ancient trees are even more important because together all the trees offer a really wide range of niche homes for lots of different specialist species in just one small area.
What makes ancient trees unique as a wildlife habitat, is the exceptionally species rich communities associated with wood decay and the bare surfaces of trunks, bough and roots.