Ancient Woodland Restoration - A story of life and light.

Ancient woodland is defined as land that has been continuously wooded for at least 400 years. The UK is home to some of Europe’s richest ancient woodlands. However these precious ecosystems are often small and fragmented and now cover less than 3% of UK land. During the mid 20th century, nearly half of them were felled and replanted with fast-growing timber species. A long-running movement is working to restore these Plantations on Ancient Woodlands also known as PAWs - back to their natural state. Charly traveled to her homelands in East Cornwall to meet two people deeply involved in the restoration of these ancient woods. First to High Wood near Liskeard, where Phil Sturgeon of Protect Earth is leading his charity’s first ancient woodland restoration project on a PAWs site that is predominantly conifer, but shows much promise for regeneration of the previous temperate rainforest. Then she met Mick Bracken - Outreach Advisor from the Woodland Trust - at Millook, a stunning oceanic woodland on the North Cornish coast. Millook showcases the biodiversity and variety of habitats that restored sites aim to replicate. As Oliver Rackham wrote in his book Woodlands, - “If restorers of wildwood are to get anywhere, they have to establish what it is they are trying to restore.” Join us to find out how Ancient Woodlands are defined, the steps involved in restoring them and why this is so important. Thanks to Mick Bracken - Outreach Advisor, Woodland Trust and Phil Sturgeon of Protect Earth for two very interesting days exploring these two woodlands, and to the team and volunteers at High Wood for sharing their knowledge and enthusiasm for this project. Please consider donating to support this vital work to either organisation at www.protect.earth and www.woodlandtrust.uk Cover - Danielle Barnes Graph illustration/animation - Robin Lane-Roberts Proof watching - Caroline Wajsblum and Tom Veck Also to Steve Wiltshire, ecologist from Protect Earth - still can't get over that (or why) dormice hang out in the top of the conifer trees. After 6 years, funded by and co-produced by Tom of Vastern Timber, Wood for the Trees has now become a CIC - WOODFORTHETREESUK CIC. This film was funded by Tom Barnes, pre CIC formation. It has been a great journey so far looking for, and finding, the answers to some of the questions we originally asked above. And much more. Tom and Charly have always strived to create a balanced, non-biased films exploring topics that are popular and not so popular, following our own interests and those of our viewers (please keep asking questions and suggesting topics). Charly is taking the CIC forward along with promoting previous content and will continue to follow the threads of mycelium and the drifting leaves to other stories. So stay tuned to tuned to find out where they lead and what sprouts, leaves, blossoms and fruits. We are grateful for the ongoing advice and support from the many connections we have made over the years, along with the support of Co - Directors in the CIC, Jenny Macdonald and Caroline Wajsblum.