Habitats of open ground and non-native woodland

Small blocks of non-native woodland may occur occasionally in a native woodland matrix and should be recorded as a separate habitat.

Where a woodland contains small areas of open ground, or glades, within a wooded area, include the open ground within the woodland habitat.

Larger non-wooded areas within your woodland should be classified according to broad habitat type. The habitat types used in this toolbox are:

• Neutral, base-rich or semi-improved grassland
• Acid grassland
• Molinia grassland and rush pasture
• Mires
• Heathland
• Bramble and tall herbs
• Bracken
• Non-native woodland

Depending on your woodland objectives, you may want to define certain habitats in more detail, e.g. if managing calcareous grassland is one of your objectives, you may want to map calcareous grassland rather than the more general “neutral, base-rich or semi-improved grassland”.