“Its comprehensive coverage of the issues associated with woodland creation in Britain cannot fail to be of value”
Despite a slow increase in broadleaved woodland cover in Britain during the last 20 years, woodland species diversity is decreasing and woodland’s potential for enhancing our quality of life is unrealised. In view of the current public and political will to increase woodland cover in Britain, and the need to ensure that newly-created woodland is of the highest possible ecological quality, this book is most welcome.
It is a formal, often detailed and sometimes technical text aimed at countryside planners and practitioners, landowners, conservation organisations and community groups. Its entomological content is limited but, given the potential benefits of newly-created woodland and its associated habitats for so many insect taxa, it fully deserves a mention here.
The main text is divided into two parts. The first five chapters cover the general principles of woodland creation and provide necessary background to a consideration of woodland creation practice in the remaining four. Topics include an overview of woodland cover in Britain, some of the organisms that it supports and its importance for people. Issues associated with climate change and the planning, design and management of new woodland are also considered. Two case studies effectively draw together the various topics discussed in the text.
For invertebrates, the importance of woodland rides, glades and edges is emphasised, and the value of dead wood, neglected coppice and bramble is noted. A table lists invertebrate habitat in woodland. Butterflies receive the most detailed treatment. Survey and monitoring protocol is described and there are tables describing those species likely to occur in newly-created woodland, the colonisation potential of habitat specialists, and larval foodplants.
The book concludes with a useful glossary and lists of acronyms, species mentioned in the text and cited references. The latter represent a wide range of published and unpublished material. Unfortunately there is no index, and the list of species would be more valuable if page numbers referred the names to the text. Nevertheless this is an extremely useful and attractively presented handbook. It is generously illustrated with many figures and 170 images in full colour. Its comprehensive coverage of the issues associated with woodland creation in Britain cannot fail to be of value to its target readership. It also appears to be well-suited as a text for Further Education and foundation degree students studying countryside planning and land management. Certainly, many insects are likely to benefit from its sound advice.
Glenda Orledge,
Antenna – the journal of the Royal Entomological Society
