Lady's Wood was acquired by Devon Wildlife Trust in 1964
The Wildlife Trusts manage land for the benefit of people and wildlife. This is at the very heart of what we do.
As a charity concerned with protecting wildlife sites and securing nature’s recovery, our key interest is to ensure places rich in nature are protected for the future.
More than 99% of our nature reserves are free to visit. All can be enjoyed year-round, including the 400 plus woodlands under our management, which contain a range of habitats from flower-rich ancient woodlands to upland birch forest, wet carr woodland to wood pasture..jpg "Coppicing in Hayley Wood, Cambridgeshire in 1966")
We have a vision of A Living Landscape, a recovery plan for nature which involves enlarging, improving, creating and joining up wildlife-rich areas of land to create a connected ecological network across the UK. Woodlands are a key part of that ecological network.
The Wildlife Trusts want to see all of the existing native woodlands safeguarded. In some areas conifer plantations should be restored to their former glory as heath, bog or broadleaved woodland habitats. To fulfil our vision we are committed to securing the best use and management of all land, including forests and woods, for the benefit of people and wildlife.
A history
By the beginning of the 20th Century, Britain's woodland resource reached an all time low - just 5% of total land area. With the outbreak of war the country was no longer able to rely on timber imports.
World War II saw large-scale felling of ancient broadleaved woods and their conversion to conifers to grow and supply timber for the war effort. In the 1950s and 60s there was extensive planting of conifers on semi-natural habitats such as heathland, grassland, bog and wetland.
During the 20th Century, 40% of England’s ancient woodland was converted to plantations. Woodlands have also been lost or damaged through urban and agricultural development and now, ancient woodlands cover just three per cent of England’s land area. Eight out of 10 woodlands are less than 20 hectares in size and nearly 50% comprise less than five.
Fortunately, Wildlife Trusts have acted to protect, save and restore our native woodlands. By the 1960s, in response to the widespread devastation Wildlife Trusts had been formed across the length and breadth of the UK. Many started to safeguard woodlands, often through their acquisition as nature reserves.
Devon Wildlife Trust’s first nature reserve was Lady’s Wood - ten acres of hazel, oak and ash. Donated in 1964 it was a dormouse haven. It still is.
In 1970 the Bedfordshire Naturalists’ Trust ran a campaign to raise £10,000 to buy three stunning ancient woods from the Forestry Commission. Gamsey, Raveley and Lady Woods are now protected nature reserves, open to the public and managed with wildlife in mind.
Treswell Wood in Nottinghamshire was almost clear felled with government grants in the 1970s when the local Wildlife Trust stepped in. It is now one of the finest ancient woods in the area. The Trust also bought nearby Eaton and Gamston Woods from the Forestry Commission, as ancient woods already damaged by clear felling and conifer planting. They are now well on the way to being restored to their former glory.
Partnership working
The Forestry Commission (FC) owns a substantial amount of land which is of high value for wildlife. The sale of FC land is not new; almost 900 hectares of land has been sold each year by the Forestry Commission in the last five years. Wildlife Trusts have worked extremely hard to ensure that such sales did not lead to wildlife damage.
In fact, Wildlife Trusts have been buying land from the Forestry Commission or working in partnership to manage forests for wildlife for around 50 years. As well as buying wildlife-rich woodlands, Wildlife Trusts manage them under lease arrangements with landowners to help improve their value for wildlife.
The importance of maintaining long-standing relationships with partners and landowners was reinforced when the estate of the late Duke of Beaufort approached Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust with the offer of Lower Woods SSSI, Hawkesbury. The Trust gratefully accepted the gift, on behalf of the nation. Lower Woods Nature Reserve was opened formally by HRH The Prince of Wales in 1997. This nature reserve covers more than 259ha of the most important woodland and wood pasture in south-west England.
In 1972 the Glamorgan Trust took on 
the management of Coed y Bwl reserve - a wild daffodil wood under lease from Murray McLaggan of Merthyr Mawr Estates. It was hit hard by Dutch Elm disease but good management of the reserve earned the Trust a Prince of Wales Award in 1975.
Much of Brackets Coppice in west Dorset had been felled in preparation for conifer planting by the 1960s but swift negotiations secured the remaining woodland portion for Dorset Wildlife Trust. In the 1980s, the Forestry Commission was obliged by the Government to sell off some holdings and Dorset Wildlife Trust bought the nature reserve outright.
Woodlands and people
The Wildlife Trusts have a long history of engaging communities to secure a sense of local ownership and these communities have campaigned to protect woodlands from loss and damage, including Sydenham Hill Wood in London during the 1980s.
In the 1990s Oxleas Wood in South London was the focus of a campaign involving local residents, London Wildlife Trust and other NGOs, against plans to build a road through the site. After a long battle the plans were overturned.
Today there are large numbers of ‘Friends’ groups working with Wildlife Trusts, local authorities and others in the management and promotion of woodlands as valued community assets. Further developments, such as the growth of forest schools, give us confidence that people’s connections to woodlands and forests are as strong as ever.
A new era of restoration
 small.jpg "Greno Woods (credit Paul Hobson)")
Part of Greno Woods on the edge of Sheffield is conifer plantation which, until recently, was managed for timber. As well as improving the woods as a habitat for wildlife, Sheffield Wildlife Trust is using the felled plantation timber as biofuel for local buildings such as schools. It appreciates the challenges of finding the right management balance as Greno Woods is also a large ancient woodland, well used by the local community for walking, and by horse riders and mountain bikers.
There are still many thousands of hectares of conifer plantations on former ancient woodland sites and internationally important open habitats such as peatland. There are 50-60,000ha of plantations on high value wildlife sites within England’s Public Forest Estate, representing huge potential for large-scale habitat restoration. The work that we and others have already carried out has demonstrates that it can be done.
We now need to do more, and faster, in order to rescue our fragmented habitats and ensure they can support viable populations of species such as dormice, woodland birds and butterflies.
The Wildlife Trusts want to see all UK native woodlands well managed, restored to their full potential, bursting with wildlife and enjoyed by everyone - and all part of a well connected network of habitats at a landscape-scale.