A view from the treetops

If you’ve seen the latest episode of Wild Isles then you’ll have witnessed just how remarkable our woodlands and their wildlife can be. In today’s blog, Gareth Fisher, Ecologist and woodland expert at the RSPB provides an insight into how special our woodlands can be and how the RSPB is helping woodland wildlife.

There’s something special about woodlands. They’re amazing places – both for the wildlife that they support and for the emotional response and connection that they seem to evoke in people who care deeply about these wooded spaces. When they’re in good condition, they can support so much wildlife, with nature making the most of all available spaces, from the treetop canopy to the trunks and bark of trees and the woodland floor below. To appreciate the richness of life in these spaces you really have to immerse yourself in a woodland – only then do you discover the very many creatures and plants that call it home.

Working on woodlands for almost two decades, I’ve come to appreciate good woodlands – and the importance of these habitats for the nature of our isles. As a child, I used to play in a little patch of woodland near our house – little did I know that woodlands would become such an important part of my career…

I first started working on woodlands at the RSPB during a project looking at Spotted Flycatchers in Devon, Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire. Spotted Flycatchers are long-distance migrants that visit the UK in spring and summer, breeding in gardens, parks and woodlands, before flying south to sub-Saharan Africa for the winter. As part of the research, my colleagues and I looked at the habitat conditions that Spotted Flycatchers needed in woodlands, and as a result, we got to know woodland habitats very well – spotting Spotted Flycatchers and a whole host of other woodland wildlife on a daily basis.

Spotted Flycatchers migrate to the UK in spring to breed and raise their chicks in gardens, parks and woodlands. © Ben Andrew (rspb-images.com).

Other roles followed but the woodland theme continued, with work including assessing the condition of Atlantic oak woodlands (the UK’s temperate rainforest) in Wales and other sites such as RSPB Haweswater and Nagshead. It was back in 2008 when I began organising ‘Woodlands Warden Gatherings’ – an opportunity for RSPB wardens working in woodland habitats to get together and discuss how best to manage woodland for wildlife.

Today, I am the Chair of the RSPB’s Woodland Nature Recovery Group – a group made up of woodland experts from across the organisation. Our aim is to share knowledge and experience about our woodland conservation work, promote and keep track of this work, including our work on woodland butterflies, hoverflies, lichens and birds.

Our amazing woodland wildlife
The British Isles are fortunate to support specialised woodland bird species that rely on our native woodlands. Often elusive, but nonetheless spectacular, we are home to amazing woodland birds such as the Hawfinch, which has a big, powerful bill – perfectly adapted for cracking open cherry stones and other hard nuts. There’s the tiny Lesser Spotted Woodpecker too, about the same size as a House Sparrow it spends its time high up in the woodland canopy in search of larvae, spiders and insects. And then there’s migratory bird species – Pied Flycatchers and Wood Warblers fly thousands of kilometres from sub-Saharan Africa to breed and feed in our woodlands in spring and summer.

Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers are among a number of specialised woodland species that can be found in UK woodlands. © Ben Andrew (rspb-images.com).

Our woodlands don’t just support birds, they hold a range of other wildlife too including rare and threatened butterflies such as High Brown Fritillary and Heath Fritillary. The forests of Scotland are home to very rare invertebrates such as the Aspen Hoverfly, Pine Hoverfly and the Dark Bordered Beauty moth. The Atlantic woodlands of the British Isles support rare lichens, mosses and liverworts.

Woodlands are also home to rare invertebrates, such as the Heath Fritillary butterfly. © Jackie Cooper (rspb-images.com).

All of these species, and many others need our help. And the RSPB is working with partners to secure a future for our wonderful woodland wildlife.

Why do our woodlands and their wildlife need help?
Our woodlands, and the species that call them home, face a broad range of threats and issues. The UK has one of the lowest levels of woodland cover in Europe, and what we do have is often found in isolated pockets. These small, unconnected areas of habitat leave the wildlife populations within them very vulnerable. Some species need well-connected habitats so that they can move across the landscape, while others need well-wooded landscapes over large areas to thrive.

The condition and quality of woodland habitats is also a major concern. Woodland management has become polarized with a lack of smaller scale woodland management and a reduction in traditional management practices such as coppicing. At the same time there has been an intensification of large-scale commercial forestry. In combination this has led to a loss of structural complexity, species diversity, and niche availability in woodland habitats, particularly old growth features and decaying wood habitat.

At the moment there is a real drive in the UK to plant more trees to help tackle climate change and this presents a great opportunity to increase the size of native woodland patches and reconnect isolated areas. However, we need to make sure that the right trees are planted in the right places, to ensure that woodland expansion is not just focused on carbon capture, but is planned and managed so that it benefits wildlife – it’s about quality, not just quantity.

Other threats to our woodlands include invasive non-native species, with commercial forestry trees and ornamental species like Rhododendron ponticum significantly contributing to the poor condition of woodland habitats generally and adversely affecting important species. Invasive tree pests and diseases can pose serious threats to individual species of tree and the wildlife associated with them. The impacts of climate change are becoming increasingly clear across the UK and in a variety of habitats including woodlands. Impacts on woodland wildlife are still uncertain but are likely to be acting both within the UK and for our migrant species on their wintering grounds and migration routes.

What are we doing to help?
The RSPB is working to better understand these issues, find solutions, and advocate for good management practices for woodland nature. Here are just a few examples of how we’re helping threatened woodland wildlife:

In Wales, the Celtic Rainforest LIFE project is doing a fantastic job in restoring rare Celtic rainforest habitats, also known as Atlantic oak woodlands. These lush oakwoods, mainly found on the western edge of England, Wales and Scotland are home to rare and specialised wildlife, including special lichens and mosses. Among other activities, the Celtic Rainforest LIFE project is breathing life back into these special woodlands by removing invasive non-native Rhododendrons and using livestock grazing at suitable levels to manage the woodland. Find out more here: https://celticrainforests.wales/

Alongside our partners, we’re helping to restore ancient oak woodlands in Wales through the Celtic Rainforests LIFE project. © Gareth Fisher/RSPB.

In Kent, we’ve been working with partners to bring more water back into the woodland habitats of the Blean Woods. By creating small dams in streams and adding meanders into stream channels we’re slowing the flow of water – and in doing so, boosting biodiversity. A huge amount of work has happened in a short space of time and we’re seeing positive results – last summer there were small pools where once they would have dried up and these pools were home to fish, amphibians, and insects, with dragonflies zipping around above. You can read more about this work here: https://community.rspb.org.uk/ourwork/b/actionfornature/posts/re-wetting-woodlands-to-boost-biodiversity

In the Blean Woods, we’ve been working with partners to slow the flow of water through the woodland. Here, you can see a leaky dam that is slowing the flow of water, resulting in a small pool of water behind the dam that wildlife can make use of.  © Gareth Fisher/RSPB.

Using science to understand more about how best to support the recovery of threatened bird species is a key element of our work and once we understand how to help species, we can move onto putting solutions into practice. In the East Midlands of England, we’ve been working with the Forestry Commission and Natural England to test the impacts of habitat management on woodland bird species. Testing management techniques such as thinning the woodland canopy, creating glades, managing rides and creating standing decaying wood, we found that woodland management had a positive effect on a group of target bird species. Find out more about this work: https://community.rspb.org.uk/ourwork/b/science/posts/managing-woodland-for-birds-does-it-work

What can you do to help?
Get out and experience woodland wildlife – don’t just walk through it, experience it, take it in. Listen for the birds calling and the leaves rustling. Take in the bright green leaves as they emerge in spring and in autumn look out for fungi on the woodland floor. And if Wild Isles inspires you to do more, then find out about the local conservation groups operating near you. Find out whether they are actively protecting woodland or carrying out habitat management work parties and get involved. Visit an RSPB Reserve where our sustainable woodland management is demonstrated; you could find out about volunteering there, or even donate to support our activities. Visit Save our Wild Isles to discover more ways to help nature.

Spring is a great time of year to get out and enjoy nature coming to life in woodlands – from carpets of bluebells to birds singing, and butterflies on the wing. Go out and experience this habitat in all its glory.

Continue reading
Find out more about the RSPB’s woodland work in our Wild Isles:
• Wild Isles Episode Two – If you go down to the woods today…
• Wild Isles - Shining a spotlight on our native woodlands in Cumbria
• BBC Wild Isles - Episode 2 - Woodlands
• Making the most of our woodlands – introducing the Woodland Wildlife Toolkit
• Slowing the flow - re-wetting woodlands to boost biodiversity

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