A provisional inventory of ancient and long‐established woodland in Ireland Irish Wildlife Manuals No. 46 A provisional inventory of ancient and long‐ established woodland in Ireland Philip M. Perrin and Orla H. Daly Botanical, Environmental & Conservation Consultants Ltd. 26 Upper Fitzwilliam Street, Dublin 2. Citation: Perrin, P.M. & Daly, O.H. (2010) A provisional inventory of ancient and long‐established woodland in Ireland. Irish Wildlife Manuals, No. 46. National Parks and Wildlife Service, Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Dublin, Ireland. Cover photograph: St. Gobnet’s Wood, Co. Cork © F. H. O’Neill The NPWS Project Officer for this report was: Dr John Cross;
[email protected] Irish Wildlife Manuals Series Editors: N. Kingston & F. Marnell © National Parks and Wildlife Service 2010 ISSN 1393 – 6670 Ancient and long‐established woodland inventory ________________________________________ CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 2 INTRODUCTION 3 Rationale 3 Previous research into ancient Irish woodland 3 The value of ancient woodland 4 Vascular plants as ancient woodland indicators 5 Definitions of ancient and long‐established woodland 5 Aims of the project 6 DESK‐BASED RESEARCH 7 Overview 7 Digitisation of ancient and long‐established woodland 7 Historic maps and documentary sources 11 Interpretation of historical sources 19 Collation of previous Irish ancient woodland studies 20 Supplementary research 22 Summary of desk‐based research 26 FIELD‐BASED RESEARCH 27 Overview 27 Selection of sites