Cranborne Chase & West Wiltshire Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty A landscape view of trees and woodlands Contents Cranborne Chase & West Wiltshire Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty A landscape view of trees and woodlands 3 Introduction .................................. 5 Connectivitiy: habitat management on the scale of the landscape ........................ 13 Our Woodlands in a changing climate ................ 15 Chapter 1 Chalk Escarpments ................... 21 Chapter 2 Open Chalk Downland .............. 27 Chapter 3 Wooded Chalk Downland ......... 35 Chapter 4 Downland Hills ........................... 43 Chapter 5 Chalk River Valleys .................... 49 Chapter 6 Greensand Terraces .................. 57 Chapter 7 Greensand Hills.......................... 63 Chapter 8 Rolling Clay Vale ........................ 71 AONB Office, Castle Street, Cranborne, Dorset BH21 5PZ Tel: 01725 517417 email: [email protected] www.ccwwdaonb.org.uk Introduction Introduction 5 and other statutory bodies to have The role of trees due regard for AONB in all their work. The AONB Partnership came and woodlands in together to formulate a management plan. In 2003 a Landscape Character the landscape well-being. They are integral to Assessment2 was undertaken to outdoor recreation, game shooting Trees and woodlands play provide a detailed, integrated and and equestrian sports such as objective analysis of the character a vital role in our landscape: hunting. Trees and woodlands frame of the landscape. This formed the they provide for us, regulate views and act as focal points within basis for the public consultation and support the environmental the landscape. They are inspirational that produced, in 2004, the first by their individual presence, as AONB Management Plan. In 2008 systems that enrich our lives remarkable or architecturally beautiful and upon which we depend. this was reviewed and the refreshed trees, and in their collective effect, plan published in 20093. In that year as in the ambience created in and there were several landscape scale Trees provide us with services around woodlands. Trees have enhancement projects arising: without which life would become a deep spiritual importance for very much harder. They provide us many people and certainly form an • Rivers – on the Avon the 4 with timber, fibre, fuel, food and important part of the genius loci, the STREAM programme and Living 5 the genetic material to sustain and sense of place, which characterises River Project addressed issues improve future generations of trees. where we live, work and play.1 relating to chalk streams and the riparian zone. Trees regulate our environment by • Downs – across the chalk storing carbon and by being a part The need for a downland the Wildlife Trusts of the hydrological cycle; taking up were working through the New water from the soil and emitting it as landscape view Life for Chalk Grassland Project6 a vapour. They reduce the velocity in Wiltshire and the Pastures of water that flows through and of trees and New Project7 in Dorset. over the ground, reducing erosion and intercepting pollution before it woodlands. • Farmland – a Farmland Bird reaches water courses. Pollutants Adviser joined the AONB team have to be removed from water to work with agri-environment in expensive processes to protect The Cranborne Chase and West schemes and support habitat drinking water and wildlife; when Wiltshire Downs was designated creation on the arable land. as an Area of Outstanding Natural riverside trees do this for us it saves 2 The AONB Landscape Character Assessment us all money. Beauty (AONB) in 1981 because it chapters can be down loaded from www. was judged to be a landscape of ccwwdaonb.org.uk Trees support our ecosystems by such special and unique character 3 The AONB Management Plan can be obtained storing and cycling nutrients and that it should be conserved as a part from www.ccwwdaonb.org.uk or by calling of our shared national heritage. The 01725 517417 providing habitat for a huge range 4 For more information about STREAM go to of species, including whole groups Countryside and Rights of Way Act www.streamlife.org.uk such as bats and avian raptors. 2000 put a duty on Local Authorities 5 For more information about Living River Project go to www.livingriver.org.uk Trees and woodlands also have 6 For more information about New Life for Chalk Grasslands go to www.wiltshirewildlife.org.uk and a huge cultural and historical 1 For more information about ecosystem services, you can down load “Taking an Ecosystem click on to Living Landscapes significance and have a proven Services approach to land management” from 7 For more information about grassland positive impact on our health and the South West Protected Landscapes Forum at conservation in Dorset, visit the Dorset AONB www.southwestlandscapes.org.uk web site at www.dorsetaonb.org.uk • Ancient and Veteran trees – the Dorset Greenwood Tree Project and the Wiltshire Tree Warden Scheme had been launched. • Historic Environment Action Plans – the H.E.A.P. project was launched in February 2009, to focus attention on the archaeological and historical aspects of the AONB landscape.8 Trees and woods were important or key components in each initiative. If the AONB Partnership was to successfully form collaborative links between all these initiatives, so that sustainable management of Who will benefit the people and places of the area ancient woodlands in line with could derive the most benefit from the Forestry Commission Ancient from this work? them, then there was a need for Woodland Practice Guide. This document is aimed primarily better and more relevant knowledge • Encourage and implement the at land owners and managers, of trees and woodlands. restoration of plantations on advisers and consultants, but also ancient woodland sites to a Forestry Commission and Natural native character. England officers and those people New • Safeguard, enhance and in local authorities that formulate extend landscape scale habitat and deliver rural and tree-related developments for networks. policies. It is hoped that this work will help these individuals by giving • Encourage and implement woodlands and them an evidence base that justifies appropriate creation of new landscape scale working; given a native woodlands. trees fuller understanding of the landscape The two most significant • Raise awareness of the value character context in which they are developments for woodlands and of ancient woodlands amongst working. The forester or landowner trees at that time were firstly that the landowners. will then be able to make better AONB became an Ancient Woodland decisions about their own sites, • Gain the greatest benefits for Priority Area and secondly, the applying to this base layer their both land owners and the public re-launch of the Dorset Woodlink detailed site knowledge from the site good by linking woodland Project9 that coordinates woodland history, their personal experience, and other land management and trees policy across Dorset. their training and their own initiatives. objectives. This document also aims The Cranborne Chase Ancient • Build partnerships to identify and to inspire those people who may Woodland project10 was established deliver common goals not be directly involved in woodland by the AONB Partnership, Forestry management but are enthusiastic Commission and Natural England These developments made it about, and interested in, the trees with support from the Woodland necessary to instigate a research and woodlands of our exceptional Trust and other non-governmental project that would give us the means landscape. organisations. It has the broad to at least address some of the objectives to: issues around woodland and trees, It was also realised that the dataset if not actually provide solutions. • Promote the establishment of had the potential to answer a whole Therefore the AONB Team began robust, resilient landscapes range of other questions, have a to create a dataset characterising well suited to meeting future diversity applications, as well as the woodland in the AONB which challenges. posing new questions for further corrected or resolved many of enquiry. It would, for example, allow • Encourage and implement the the issues with the datasets then the AONB to: available. (A full description of the 8 For more information about Historic Environment • Gain a better understanding Action Plans, or to view the Historic Landscape method for this research can be of the location and nature of Characterisation of the AONB, go to www. found in a separate document). It has historiclandscape.co.uk ancient woodland in the AONB culminated in the publication of this 9 For more information about Dorset Woodlink, and its relationship to historic document. contact Dorset AONB at www.dorsetaonb.org.uk land use. 10 For more information about the ancient woodland priority area, contact the AONB Office • Identify landscape scale on 01725 517417 or via www.ccwwdaonb.org. uk management priorities for Introduction 7 Ancient Woodland based on a 11 • The level of connectivity to semi- more complete picture of this Method summary natural habitats habitat type in the AONB. This document has introduced a new The creation of the new GIS based • Identify areas of woodland, in a desk based method of digitising, AONB woodland dataset took 40 systematic manner, which may characterising, and recording working days during the latter half of contain undiscovered woodland woodland at a landscape scale. 2008, not including the pilot study archaeology, or which may The dataset is more precise and which took 4 working days. warrant future archaeological comprehensive than has ever been survey. achieved before and allows the relationships between origin, type • Identify priority areas for the and connectivity of woodland to be Categorising the enhancement of landscape mapped for the first time. For the connectivity as a necessary step purposes of the project woodland historical origins of for improving biodiversity. was defined as “land that is mostly • Deepen our understanding of covered with dense growths of trees woodland the contribution that woodland and shrubs”.