Bunce broadleaved woodland survey of Great Britain, 1971-2022

In 1971, 103 broadleaved woodlands were surveyed across Britain. Ecological information was recorded at the site level and in more detail from sixteen, 200 m2 sample plots located at random within each site. Data were collected on plant species composition in the canopy and ground flora, soil pH and Soil Organic Matter, habitat management and a wide range of other plot and site-level descriptors. All sites and, where possible, sample plots were revisited and recorded again over the growing seasons of 2000, 2002, 2003 (referred to subsequently as the '2001 survey') and 2020-2022, using exactly the same field methods. Data were collected under projects managed by The Nature Conservancy (in 1971) and the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (since 2001)

The 2001 survey was funded by a consortium led by Natural England, along with Defra, CCW, SNH, JNCC, Forestry Commission and the Woodland Trust.

The 2020-2022 survey was funded by a consortium led by the Woodland Trust (also including the People’s Postcode Lottery, the David Family Foundation, Welsh Government, Defra and Natural England, and several smaller contributions from charitable trusts and individuals).

Users of the datasets in this series should consult the supporting documentation accompanying the data for further information on field methods and analytical results.