Wet woodlands are powerhouses of insect biomass production.
A wet woodland in West Devon has recently been estimated to produce 38 million flies per hectare per year.
Wet woodlands play an important role in storing carbon and reducing floods.
Beaver, Svetozar Cenis – Unsplash
Willows, downy birch and alder trees growing in very wet soils or water. Lots of standing and fallen dead and decaying wood. Unpolluted. Lots of insects providing food for birds and bats. Light cattle grazing creating microhabitats in the woodland. In some areas beavers also create microhabitats and fell trees to add to the amount of deadwood.
Specialists: Willow tit, wet woodland flies (Coenosia pudorosa), wet woodland lichens, wet woodland fungi including hazel gloves fungus
Others: All Focus SpeciesA group of similar organisms that can breed and exchange gen... More bats (especially Bechstein’s), water vole, beaver, otter, lesser spotted woodpecker.
UK priority habitatThe natural environment in which an animal, plant or other o... More: Yes
Statutory irreplaceable habitatIrreplaceable habitat, if destroyed, is very difficult (or t... More: Ancient woodland, and ancient or veteran treesA tree that has reached a great age compared to others of th... More within a wet woodland.
Wet woodlands are important wildlife-rich habitatsThe natural environment in which an animal, plant or other o... More, but are often overlooked. Devon is likely to support more wet woodlands than most other English counties due to its size, climate and wet soils
Devon’s wet woodlands are dominated by tree species such as willow, alder and downy birch, which grow in very wet soils. They would once have been common across the county but have been lost through land clearance and drainage.
Small areas of wet woodlands are now largely found as small patches along streams, in wet areas in open countryside and in the wetter parts of broadleaved woodlands (often when they’re in valley floors and along streams). They form an important part of the wildlife-rich mosaics on the wet soils of the north Devon Culm, Dartmoor Rhos pastures and the east Devon and Blackdown Hills spring-line mires. See Heath, bog, mire and species-rich rush pasture mosaics.
Wet woodlands are especially important for insects and other invertebrates which thrive in their damp environment, especially when there’s lots of deadwood. Invertebrates are an essential food source for bats and birds, including Bechstein’s bats and willow tits (both Focus Species in this LNRS). Willow tits are a wet woodland specialist species and are thought to be the country’s fastest declining resident bird.
Wet woodlands are often dark environments and support few flowering plants. However, in more open areas characteristic species can include marsh marigold, yellow flag iris and meadowsweet. Wet woodlands in more open areas provide perfect habitat for rare lichens, which live on the well-lit bark of willows on the edges of the woodlands. Fungi to be added…
Beavers are once more starting to move into Devon’s wet woodlands, diversifying their structure and felling trees, which creates more decaying and deadwood.
Because wet woodland tree species grow fast, wet woodlands (especially those on peaty soils) capture and store carbon more quickly than many other woodland types.
Explain – Temperate rainforests vs wet woodlands – umbrella vs wellies!
To be added through Consultation.
Area and distribution
Unknown?
Designations
17 SSSIs include wet woodland.
Arlington, Killerton, Bovey Valley, Holne Woods, Sampford Spiney, Shaugh Prior Woods, Slapton Ley, Braunton Burrows, Andrew’s Wood, Dunsdon Farm, Dunsland Park, Hense Moor, Ashculm Turbary (a Devon Wildlife Trust nature reserve), Southey and Gotleigh Moor and Blackdown, Sampford Common, Yarner Wood and Wolborough Fen.
2 of these (shown in bold) are NNRs
County Wildlife Sites: Figure to be inserted from DBRCDevon Biodiversity Records Centre More.
Condition
2023 data from natural England suggest 62-68% of wet woodland in Devon within SSSIs is in favourable condition and 26-30% is unfavourable recovering.
If left unmanaged, many wet woodlands will eventually dry out and change into broadleaved woodland. To keep them as wet woodlands, water tables must remain high and water flow must be maintained. However, wet woodlands need to be seen as part of a dynamic landscape where new areas are allowed to develop, ideally near to existing ones so that connectivity for wet woodland specialist species such as lichens and willow tits is improved.
Wet woodlands provide shade and shelter for (lightly) grazing cattle. In turn the cattle increase the diversity of invertebrates as they create microhabitats in the woodland (see Wet woodland flies). However, wet woodlands are often permanently fenced off from adjacent wet grasslands in the misunderstanding that this will benefit wildlife.
Dead and decaying wood provides critical habitat for invertebrates and fungi. However, it’s often ‘tidied up’ although it should be left in place.
Reductions in water flow in and around wet woodlands, along with changes in the water’s nutrient load, can harm the structural diversity of wet woodlands. Therefore, it’s vital that water flow and quality are maintained.
Wet woodlands are a critical nature-based solution as they store water, reduce flooding and, to some extent, act as buffers to other more sensitive habitats such as mires and watercourses.
Climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of summer droughts. This poses a major threat to wet woodland wildlife as species often depend on a continuously damp environment.
Because wet woodland trees grow quickly they capture carbon faster than other trees. Therefore, wet woodlands should be a high priority when creating habitats to store carbon.
Non-native invasive species such as skunk cabbage and Himalayan balsam pose a growing threat.
More frequently occuring tree diseases, especially alder rot (Phytophthora alni), are a concern as they can seriously threaten the health of entire woodlands. However, the resulting deadwood provides important habitat for invertebrates and fungi.
Despite their wildlife value, wet woodlands are often overlooked by ecologists and foresters and sometimes cleared in favour of open habitats such as mires and wet heath. Clearance can be the best option for wildlife, but is not always. We need mosaics of habitats and decisions about land use should always be made with regard to the needs of habitats and species across the wider landscape.
The Forestry Commission provide funding to support woodland management planning and grants to create new wet woodlands.
Better (wildlife rich), bigger and more wet woodlands that are connected to a network of habitats across the landscape, particularly where this will benefit Focus Species and achieve wider social benefits.
See Find out more below for any relevant national and local targets.
See Find out more below for links to detailed guidance and sources of funding and advice.
More detailed actions are set out for the following Focus Species:
Follow the links below to the relevant Focus Species pages as well as to relevant habitat and wider theme pages:
Wildlife will benefit from these actions being implemented across Devon. Note that there is not currently a map of wet woodlands for Devon.
High Opportunity Areas: Ancient and broadleaved woodlands (existing) which contain wet woodlands. North Devon Culm, Dartmoor Rhos Pastures, East Devon Spring-Line Mires.
Species Opportunity Areas: Bechstein’s bat sustenance zone and landscape connectivity zone, water vole zones, beaver catchments, willow tit recovery areas.
Agree case studies etc through Consultation.
There’s lots of great work going on across Devon for wet woodlands. For example:
Wet woodlands in the Bovey Valley and Yarner Woods are being managed and restored for their special species as part of a landscape-scale approach to integrated habitat management across woodland, farmland and heathland. How????
North Devon Biosphere Wood 4 Water? helps landowners create woodland to improve water quality and reduce flooding. Does this include wet woodland?
Always follow the Countryside Code and keep to footpaths and sites that are managed for public access.
Good places to see wet woodland are:
These include the Woodland Trust and Natural England woods at Yarner and Bovey Valley and the Devon Wildlife Trust reserves at Andrews Wood and Ashculm Turbary.
Includes a significant areas of wet woodland.
For information on these and other sites that are open to the public please see the Explore Devon website.
To add through Consultation
A Woodland Condition Assessment toolkit has been developed by members of the England Woodland Biodiversity Group (including FC, NE, Woodland Trust, Field Studies Council, Forest Research and Sylvia Foundation). Link to the woodland condition assessment form.
The Forestry Commission’s woodland management web guidance on GOV.UK has lots of useful information including woodland management plans, funding and regulations (tree felling licences, protected species etc).
Pages 23 – 36 of the United Kingdom Forest Standard (UKFS) set out requirements for biodiversity.
Forestry Commission guidance on the management of wet woodlands
Devon Wildlife Trust Guidance note on the management of wet woodlands
Buglife guidance on the management of wet woodlands
Catchment management plan guidance
WWT guidance at wet woodlands
Details on Favourable Conservation Status for wet woodlands is at Natural England Advice
Natural England (2023) has produced a report defining Favourable Conservation Status for wet woodland .
Targets include:
At least 80% of wet woodland should be within woodland patches at least 30 haHectare: an area of 10,000 square metres, or 2.47 acres More in size, located in an area with semi-natural surroundings as opposed to being surrounded by intensive farmland
Based on the requirements of notable associated species, for example willow tit and Bechstein’s bat, woodland patches should be within 5 km in core areas or 3 km of other mature woodland habitats. Connection can be via hedgerows, tree lined watercourses, wetlands and meadows.
Better
Long Term. 95% at JNCCJoint Nature Conservation Committee More Favourable Conservation Status
Long Term. 80% in good condition as per Woodland Condition Assessment
Long term. Wet woodlands in active management for biodiversity, climate and sustainable forestry
Short Term. 70% of wet woodlands in active management by 2030
Short Term. Majority of PAWsPlantation on ancient woodland sites More in restoration by 2030.
More, Larger and better connected
Long Term. Expanded as part of 16.5% woodland cover by 2050
Short term. Part of 3,000 ha’s of new woodland by 2030
