Contents
Acknowledgements
I. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Objects of survey
1.2 Previous surveys
1.3 Existing protection
1.4 Woodland Management
2. METHODS
2.1 Selection of sites
2.2 Survey of methodology - woodland classification
2.3 Survey methodology - woodland evaluation
2.4 Methods of data analysts - woodland classification
2.4.1 Determination of the plot and site types by the NWT
2.4.2 Determination of the plot and site types from a separate IS of the data from Central Region
2.5 Methods of data analysis woodland evaluation
3. RESULTS
3.1 Woodland classification determination of the plot and site types by the NWC
3.2 Woodland classification determination of the plot and site types from the separate ISA of the data from Central Region
3.3 Comparison of the results of the NWC and the separate ISA of the data from Central Region
3.4 Woodland evaluation
3.4.1 The scoring system used to evaluate nature conservation interest
3.4.2 The application of the results of the nature conservation evaluation in terms of site safeguard
4. CONCLUSION
5. DISCUSSION
References
APPENDICES
A The location of the woods sampled during the survey
B The recording forms used by Bunce and Shaw (1971)
C The recording form designed to collect the data used to evaluate the nature conservation interest of the woods, together with instructions on how to complete the form
D Details of the data collected during the survey for each wood, together with a brief description of the wood
E The scoring system designed to objectively evaluate the nature conservation interest of each wood
F A description of the plot types produced by the ISA of data from Central Region
G A description of the site types produced by the ISA of data from Central Region
H The data used to evaluate the nature conservation Interest of the woods surveyed with the scores assigned to the data according to the scoring system presented in Appendix E
J A summary of the occurrence of-each species recorded from the plots during the survey. Bunce and Shaw code numbers are given opposite each species
K A summary of the plot data recorded from each wood. For each wood every species recorded from the plots in shown together with the total number and the percentage of plots in which they occurred
L The complete species list of higher plants recorded during the survey
M The complete list of bryophytes recorded during the survey
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Objects of Survey
The object of this contract was to survey a range of semi-natural deciduous woodlands in Central Region in order to obtain information regarding the representativeness of these woods in a Great Britain context. This necessitated collecting data in such a way that it could be incorporated in the National Woodlands Classification (NWC) carried out by Bunce and Shaw (1971). At the same time an Indicator Species Analysis (ISA) was carried out on the data, and a comparison of the two methods of classification was completed. While the work described above was being undertaken data were also collected regarding the criteria used in the Nature Conservation Review (Ratcliffe, 1977) to assess sites of value for nature conservation.
The work described in this report therefore consists of firstly a classification of the different woodland types present in Central Region, and secondly an evaluation of the woods in terms of their value for nature conservation.
1.2 Previous Surveys
The only previous surveys of semi-natural deciduous woodlands in Central Region have been carried out by, or on contract to, the Nature Conservancy Council (NCC). During the late nineteen-sixties information for a few woods was collected on the Woodland Survey Cards produced by the Woodland Section of the Nature Conservancy at Monks Wood. When the NWC was carried out in the early nineteen-seventies 12% of the woods sampled were located in Scotland, two of these being in Central Region. In 1974 a survey of oakwoods in the old county of Perthshire was completed (Gregory, 1977). Information on habitats was collected from 111 woods, while the techniques developed by Bunce and Shaw for use in the NWC (1971) were applied to collect data from a further 24 woods. In 1975 a survey of woods in the Ochils was carried out by a student at Stirling University ,(Wallis, 1975). Subsequent to this the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology (ITE) carried out a survey of the canopy composition of all the deciduous woodlands in Scotland greater than 5 hectares in extent (Bunce and Proctor, 1977). The extent of the woodlands present in 1978 was then compared with the extent present in the 1947 Forestry Commission census of woodlands. The only other ecological work carried out in the woodlands of the Region was completed by Tittensor in the woodlands along the east shore of Loch Lomond (Tittensor, 1969).
1.3 Existing Protection
At the present time this in limited to an area of woodland within the Loch Lomond National Nature Reserve and ten Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). The deciduous woodlands on the east shore of Loch Lomond have been identified as being of Grade I Status in "A Nature Conservation Review" (Ratcliffe 1977).