Future work

Updating of the inventory

Because so little old woodland remains in Northern Ireland, a more thorough and rigorous approach could be to be taken to the inventory than in the rest of the UK.

The resulting inventory sets a gold standard, and can be updated systematically. By their nature ancient woodland inventories are always provisional. There is always potential for updating in the light of new information:

• Other sources of historical data
• further field survey of vascular plants and bryophytes
• analysis of the association of other groups of species with ancient woodland

Wood pasture and parkland

Unlike ancient woodland inventories elsewhere in the UK, a deliberate attempt was made to include all wood pasture and parkland. The majority of areas recorded as wood pasture and parkland by surveyors keyed out on the inventory as Long-established Woodland (75.1 per cent) or Possibly Ancient Woodland (21.4 per cent).

However, this may not be a fair reflection of their antiquity. Although it has been suggested elsewhere in the UK that ancient wood pastures and parklands may have amongst the highest counts of ancient woodland plants, as a result of past grazing, inevitably they often occur at very low frequency and are easily overlooked.

Such sites demand further consideration in Northern Ireland. They may require further survey to ensure all plants are identified or greater emphasis given to use of other groups of species (e.g. lichens) and physical features in determining their antiquity.