Ancient woodlands in the UK, including Monks Wood, are facing a concerning trend of poor regeneration. Research conducted by a team from Birmingham University in 2022 revealed a significant decline in the number of young trees in various sites, indicated by the difficulty in finding saplings. This pattern appears consistent across different woodland areas with diverse species, soil types, and climates, leading researchers to conclude that regeneration is failing. The phenomenon prompts alarm about the overall health of these ecological systems.
To the untrained eye, Monks Wood looks healthy and lush in the summer sun... But for a number of years, it has been clear to Bruno Ladvocat and Rachel Mailes that something is missing.
In 2022, Ladvocat, Mailes and their research team... noticed that the small trees that typically cover the woodland floor were increasingly hard to find.
This pattern is not limited to the 157-hectare... site. New research across eight sites around the UK shows evidence of a deeply concerning trend: ancient woodlands are failing to regenerate.
We could see as we were going through the forest that there wasn't a lot of regeneration coming back up... Across a lot of different species, they were just not coming back.
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