The ‘Bunce’ Woodland Survey of Great Britain: latest news from the 2019–2022 re-survey

Britain’s woods are suffering the impacts of increasing numbers of new pests and diseases, inappropriate levels of grazing and browsing, climate change, nitrogen deposition, and improper use or management. As the natural world faces these growing threats and challenges, the value of long-term datasets to help understand these issues increases rapidly. One such long-term survey is the ‘Bunce survey’ of woodlands, a ground-breaking survey, first undertaken in 1971 by Professor Bunce and colleagues at the former Nature Conservancy, using a robust methodology for surveying soils and vegetation (understorey and canopy). This provided a baseline for tracking change in British woodland, and the methods went on to form the basis of the wider UK Countryside Survey. The original survey focused on 103 broadleaved woods across Britain and 27 native pinewoods in Scotland. Starting in 2019, the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology are managing a repeat of the survey with the support of the Woodland Trust and a number of other organisations. The broadleaved woods have been re-surveyed once before, in 2000–2003, whilst the pinewoods have never been re-surveyed until now. The new data set will give us vital information about changes in light levels, soil pH and the activities of other species, which are in turn affected by wider environmental drivers, both natural and manmade, and by the management regime adopted for the wood itself. An update regarding the progress of the latest re-survey will be provided, along with information concerning the methodologies and practicalities of undertaking such a survey.