Welcome to the Woodland Wildlife Toolkit
Do you own or manage a wood, or advise on woodland management?
This toolkit provides advice on managing woodlands for wildlife, in particular rare and declining species that are dependent on woodland habitats.
See woodland guidance for practical advice on management techniques, information on woodland management issues and legal considerations.
The species factsheets tab gives summary information for all the species in the toolkit.
Use search your wood's wildlife to help you:
- Find out which important wildlife is likely to be in or near your woodland based on available survey or distribution data
- Understand the habitats and features that these species need
- Provide these habitats through practical woodland management
Use assess your wood's condition to get an overview of the condition of your wood's habitats and identify any issues you may need to address.
See management planning to access management plan templates and a link to myForest - a web tool developed by Sylva Foundation that helps woodland owners and managers map, store data, and create management plans for their woodlands.
Which species are included in the toolkit?
The toolkit's search function does not cover every species that occur in woodland. It includes the needs of declining woodland species, plus a selection of commoner species, or groups of species with similar habitat requirements that act as indicators of good habitat condition. Each of the species or groups listed below has a factsheet. When you use the toolkit, you will be able to access both summary information and the factsheet for the species in your wood's local area.
Plants and trees: Eighteen species - including a selection of rare woodland plants, together with a range of common species, which are at risk of becoming scarcer in the absence of active management. Some common species are included as important nectar sources for bees and other insects and in turn these pollinating insects are beneficial to other woodland plants. Others are species that can potentially act as indicators of the success of reinstated favourable management.
Yellow Bird's Nest, Bastard Balm, Spreading Bellflower, Herb Paris, White Helleborine, Fly Orchid, Solomon's Seal, Lily of the Valley, Fingered Sedge, Narrow Leaf Helleborine. You can also access factsheets for Primrose, Bluebell, Dog Violet, Box, Goat Willow, Honeysuckle, Wych Elm and Hawthorn under Important Widespread Plants under the Woodland Guidance tab.
Birds: Seventeen birds - all are national priorities and dependent on woodland.
Woodcock, Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, Tree Pipit, Redstart, Garden Warbler, Wood Warbler, Willow Warbler, Pied Flycatcher, Spotted Flycatcher, Marsh Tit, Willow Tit, Hawfinch, Lesser Redpoll, Nightingale, European Nightjar, Black grouse and Capercaillie.
Other invertebrates: National priority species - grouped according to the particular woodland features they depend on. This way groups of unfamiliar invertebrates can be captured in one go and in a more easily digestible way.
Groups: Saproxylic Beetles Group, Yellow Splinter Group, Wood-edges, glades and rides invertebrates, Woodland and shrub canopy invertebrates, Carr and woodland seepage invertebrates, Woodland litter invertebrates and Dead wood invertebrates.
There are also individual factsheets for: Violet Oil Beetle, Blue Ground Beetle, Stag Beetle, Southern Red Wood Ant and the highly restricted Pine Hoverfly and Aspen Hoverfly.
Butterflies: Fourteen species - all are national priority species that are dependent on woodland.
Chequered Skipper, Grizzled Skipper, Dingy Skipper, Wood White, Brown Hairstreak, Black Hairstreak, White-letter Hairstreak, Duke of Burgundy, White Admiral, Purple Emperor, Heath Fritillary, Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary, Pearl-bordered Fritillary and High Brown Fritillary.
Moths: Nine species - all are national priorities that are dependent on woodland.
White-spotted Sable, Goat Moth, Argent & Sable, Drab Looper, Barred Tooth-striped, Light Crimson Underwing/Dark Crimson Underwing, Common Fan-foot and Clay Fan-foot.
Mammals: Dormouse, Red Squirrel and seven bats, which are national priorities and dependent on woodland: Lesser Horseshoe Bat, Greater Horseshoe Bat, Bechstein's Bat, Noctule, Soprano Pipistrelle, Barbastelle, Brown Long-eared Bat.
Reptiles: Adder
Lichens: All are national priorities - grouped according to the particular woodland features they depend on. The general principles of managing woodland for important lichen assemblages are summarised.
Lichen rich woodlands, Lichen rich deadwood and the Lobarion lichen community.
Fungi: There is a generic factsheet for woodland fungi Woodland fungal communities, plus national priority fungal communities Bulky deadwood fungi and Stalked toothed fungi. There is an additional sheet for the very rare Hazel Gloves.
Bryophytes: Oceanic ravine assemblage
Contributors
The production of the toolkit was initiated and overseen by RSPB, Butterfly Conservation, Bat Conservation Trust, Plantlife, Woodland Trust, Forestry Commission and Natural England.
Many other organisations and individuals provided comment and advice.
Species factsheets have been prepared by partner organisations, Martin Allison, David Boyce, Jim Foster, Neil Sanderson, and Goodfellow Environmental.
This website has been developed by Sylva Foundation.
Data on species distribution for the search tool have kindly been provided by the organisations listed below. Thank you to all contributors. Details of the datasets are contained in 'About the data used'.
Bird data from Bird Atlas 2007-11, which is a joint project between BTO, BirdWatch Ireland and the Scottish Ornithologists' Club.
Dormouse data from the People's Trust for Endangered Species (PTES): Current dormouse distribution in the UK, including counties where there have been successful reintroductions. (Data from: National Dormouse Database 2011 - 2016)
Red squirrel data for England from Red Squirrels Northern England at Northumberland Wildlife Trust.
Stag beetle data from the People's Trust for Endangered Species (PTES): Data from the Great Stag Hunt 1998, 2002, 2006, 2007, 2015 and 2016.
Fungi data from The Fungus Conservation Trust (FCT) and Association of British Fungi Groups (ABFG).
Lichens from the British Lichen Society (BLS) under a Creative Commons Licence (CC-BY- 4.0).
Plant data from the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland (BSBI)
Bat data from the Bat Conservation Trust (BCT)
Butterfly and moth data from Butterfly Conservation (BC)
Adder, violet oil beetle, blue ground beetle, pine hoverfly, red squirrel (Wales and Scotland) and southern red wood ant data from the National Biodiversity Network (NBN). NBN data supplied under CC BY-NC, CC BY or OGL licenses.
Data contributors: Amphibian and Reptile Conservation, Biological Records Centre, BIS for Powys & Brecon Beacons National Park, Caledonian Conservation, Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Environmental Records Centre, Cofnod - North Wales Environmental Information Service, Environment Agency, Gloucestershire Centre for Environmental Records, Highland Biological Recording Group, Lorn Natural History Group, Merseyside BioBank, National Trust, National Trust for Scotland, Natural England, Natural Resources Wales, Nature Spot, North East Scotland Biological Records Centre, Scottish Beavers, Scottish Wildlife Trust, Shropshire Ecological Data Network, South East Wales Biodiversity Records Centre, South West Scotland Environmental Information Centre (formerly DGERC), Suffolk Biodiversity Information Service and Sussex Biodiversity Record Centre.
Data are held in a database specifically for toolkit use, hosted and managed by the RSPB.
About the data used in the toolkit search
The data behind the toolkit includes the following distribution and location data, kindly made available by the listed sources:
| Source / Organisation | Species | Data description | Geographic coverage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bat Conservation Trust (BCT) | Bat species distribution data | Distribution polygons per species. | GB |
| British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) | Bird species distribution data | 2km2 (tetrad) summary data from the 2007-2011 BTO atlas. Data from Bird Atlas 2007–11, which is a joint project between BTO, BirdWatch Ireland and the Scottish Ornithologists' Club. Contains both breeding (B1, B2 and B3) and wintering records. Buffered by 1 tetrad for spotted flycatcher, tree pipit, garden warbler, redstart, willow warbler, lesser redpoll, European nightjar, black grouse and capercaillie. Buffered by 2 tetrads for wood warbler, pied flycatcher, hawfinch, lesser spotted woodpecker and woodcock. No buffer for willow tit, marsh tit, nightingale. |
GB |
| Butterfly Conservation (BC) | Butterfly species distribution data | Actual grid references (up to 1km2 in resolution) buffered by 2km. Date period 2005-2014. | GB |
| Butterfly Conservation (BC) | Moth species distribution data | Actual grid references (up to 1km2 in resolution) buffered by 2km. Date period 2000-2014. | GB |
| Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland (BSBI) | Vascular plant species distribution data | Actual 10km grid references for all species, except spreading bellflower which are 1km grid references. Date period 1987-2017. | GB |
| British Lichen Society (BLS) | Lichen species distribution data (for lichen rich woodlands and lichen rich deadwood) | 10km2 actual grid references. Date period 1950-2013. | GB |
| British Lichen Society (BLS) | Lichen species assemblages/hotspots (for lichen rich woodlands and lichen rich deadwood) | 10km2 grid squares with the number of assemblage species in each. | GB |
| Lobarion Lichens and Oceanic ravine bryophytes | Interim distribution polygons from RSPB. | GB | |
| British Mycological Society (BMS) | Fungi species distribution data | 10km2 actual grid references. Date period 1950-2007. | GB |
| Fungus Conservation Trust (FCT) | Fungi species distribution data | 10km2 actual grid references. Date period 1950-2016. | GB |
| FCT/BMS | Fungi species assemblages / hotspots | 10km2 grid squares with the number of assemblage species in each. | GB |
| People's Trust for Endangered Species (PTES) | Hazel dormouse distribution data | County/City/Unitary Authority level data with dormouse described as absent, rare, present or frequent. Date period 2011-2016. | England and Wales |
| People's Trust for Endangered Species (PTES) | Stag beetle distribution data | 100m grid references buffered by 1km. Data from 'Great Stag Hunt'. Records from 1998, 2002, 2006, 2007, 2015 and 2016. | GB |
| Red Squirrels Northern England (RSNE) | Red squirrel distribution data | 2km2 (tetrad) data (2013 to 2016). Data are sightings from the public and conservation organisations. | England |
| NBN | Red squirrel | 2km records (since 1998) provided by BIS for Powys & Brecon Beacons National Park, Caledonian Conservation, Cofnod - North Wales Environmental Information Service, Environment Agency, Highland Biological Recording Group, Lorn Natural History Group, Merseyside BioBank, National Trust, National Trust for Scotland, Natural Resources Wales, Scottish Beavers and Scottish Wildlife Trust, accessed through NBN Atlas website. | Wales and Scotland |
| National Biodiversity Network (NBN) | Violet oil beetle | 10km2 Records provided by National Trust Species Records, accessed through NBN Atlas website. Records provided by LNHG Biological Records Dataset, accessed through NBN Atlas website. Records provided by Shropshire Ecological Data Network database, accessed through NBN Atlas website. © Natural England copyright. Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right [year] Records provided by Species Surveillance Project - In-House Pilots records for 2012, accessed through NBN Atlas website. | GB |
| NBN | Blue ground beetle | 10km2 grid squares (since 2005) buffered by 2km. Provided by the Biological Records Centre (Carabidae records for Britain to 2014), Natural England (Species Surveillance Project), Natural Resource Wales (Welsh Invertebrate Database) and iRecord via the through NBN Atlas website. | GB |
| NBN | Red wood ant | 10km2 Records provided by Shropshire Ecological Data Network database, accessed through NBN Atlas website. Records provided by SEWBReC Bees, Wasps and Ants (South East Wales), accessed through NBN Atlas website. Records provided by Patrick Roper Notebooks, accessed through NBN Atlas website. Records provided by Welsh Invertebrate Database (WID), accessed through NBN Atlas website. Records provided by HeathNet data, accessed through NBN Atlas website. Records provided by Invertebrate Common Standards Monitoring and ISIS Test Data, accessed through NBN Atlas website. |
GB |
| NBN | Adder | 10km2 Records since 2000 provided by: Amphibian and Reptile Conservation, BIS for Powys & Brecon Beacons National Park, Caledonian Conservation, Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Environmental Records Centre, Cofnod North Wales Environmental Information Service, Gloucestershire Centre for Environmental Records, Highland Biological Recording Group, , Lorn Natural History Group, National Trust, Natural Resources Wales, NatureSpot, North East Scotland Biological Records Centre, Scottish Wildlife Trust, Shropshire Ecological Data Network, South East Wales Biodiversity Records Centre, South West Scotland Environmental Information Centre (formerly DGERC), Suffolk Biodiversity Information Service and Sussex Biodiversity Record Centre, accessed through NBN Atlas website. |
GB |
| NBN | Pine Hoverfly | 1km records (since 2000) buffered by 5km. Data provided by the NBN Atlas; two records in total, both 1km resolution, supplied by the Highland Biological Recording Group. | Scotland |
| NBN | Aspen Hoverfly | Rotheray E.L., MacGowan I., Rotheray G.E., Sears J., Elliott A. (2009) 'The conservation requirements of an endangered hoverfly, Hammerschmidtia ferruginea (Diptera, Syrphidae) in the British Isles. J Insect Conserv, 13:569-574 | Scotland |
This toolkit has been developed by the following partners: Bat Conservation Trust, Butterfly Conservation, Forestry Commission, Natural England, Plantlife, RSPB, Sylva Foundation and Woodland Trust.
Main header image credits: Steve Wrightson (Red Squirrel); Ben Andrew, rspb-images.com (Pied Flycatcher); Andrew Gagg (Spreading Bellflower); Daniel Hargreaves, Bat Conservation Trust (Bechstein's Bat); Hugh Clark, Butterfly Conservation (White Admiral); Mark Gurney (Hydnellum Spongiosipes)