"Trees are beautiful, says BBC Countryfile Magazine podcast creator, Fergus Collins. "They create endlessly diverse shapes and structures [...] provide homes and food for a multitude of marvelous creatures [...] offer timber for building or furniture and firewood."
Trees capture carbon, improve water quality and stabilise waterways. They're brilliant – however, these generous beings do need us to give back.
To ensure they thrive, we need to manage them, to protect them from disease and encourage biodiversity and regeneration. Knowing whether you're managing a copse, wood or forest can help.
Wistman's Wood walk, Devon
Walk: Holme Wood and Loweswater, Cumbria
Day out: Frith Wood, Gloucestershire
There are also numerous laws relating to tree and woodland management. To make sure they're abided to, the UK government offers guidelines on defining trees and woodlands.
What's the difference between a wood and a forest?
What is a forest?
In medieval times, a 'forest' meant an area of land set aside by a monarch for hunting. Woods often formed part of these forests, which were a mix of habitats including grassland, farmland and heaths. Forests would often be home to communities of people, too.
It was following the Norman Conquest of 1066 that William I designated large areas of land in England as Royal Forests, although some were already in place before then.
The Forest of Dean, the New Forest and Sherwood Forest are fine examples and still boast ancient oak trees as well as wild boar (Forest of Dean) and fallow deer.
What is a wood?
The term 'wood' generally refers to an area of trees much smaller than a forest. They are regarded as less dense with thinner canopies.
What is a copse?
A copse is defined as a small group of trees.
If you want to fell a growing tree, under the Forestry Act 1967 you need a licence.
In the government guidelines 'growing tree' is defined as the following: 'To be considered a tree, the plant must have at least one woody stem and be expected to achieve a height of at least 5 metres'.
When it comes to woodland, the government guidelines say it would have:
- a minimum area of 0.5ha
- a minimum width of 20m
- a potential tree canopy cover of at least 20%
- a canopy consisting of specimens that meet the definition of trees (see Section 3)
Walk: Grizedale Forest, Cumbria
Walk: Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire
Delamere Forest, Cheshire walk