Loss

The figures on loss since the 1960s demonstrate that Northern Ireland's ancient and long-established woods are mostly small, fragmented, and under threat:

• 13.1 per cent of ancient and long-established woodland has been lost since the 1960s; 273 of the 2,617 woodland areas originally identified as having been continuously present since the First Edition OS (1830-44) have been completely cleared, and many others partially cleared

• An estimated 60 per cent of the area lost was cleared for agriculture, 13 per cent for development, and 27 per cent for other reasons

• The remaining ancient and long-established woodland covers only 0.73 per cent of Northern Ireland’s land area

• Of the ancient and long-established woodland areas that still remain, nearly two-thirds (63 per cent) are under two hectares in area, and less than one tenth are over ten hectares in area.