Lesson video

Hi, everyone.

My name is Ms. Voyle, and welcome to the third lesson in our local and global geography unit: Why are trees and forests important? Today's lesson is called "Mapping Changes in the UK's Forests." I hope you're feeling excited and ready to learn.

Let's get started.

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to use maps and data sources to identify changes in the UK's woodlands and forests.

Let's take a look at the keywords for today's lesson.

We are going to read and define each one so that we can understand them when we come across them.

Let's practise saying them fast.

Timber.

Natural resources.

Agriculture.

Infrastructure.

Great job.

Well done.

Let's define them now.

Timber is wood that has been cut down and prepared for use in industries.

Natural resources are those that come from Earth without human influence and can be used for human needs.

Agriculture is the science and practise of cultivating soil and farming.

And infrastructure is all the basic systems in a country, such as transport and power supply.

There are two parts to today's lesson.

To understand what has happened to the UK's forests, we will first investigate how they have changed over time.

Then we will look at what might have caused these changes.

So let's begin with how have the UK's forests changed over time.

In 2023, woodlands only covered 13% of the total land in the UK.

UK woodland cover is much lower than in other European countries such as France, where it is 32%, Germany, where it is 33%, and Spain, where it is 37%.

But it hasn't always been this way.

The UK didn't always have the same amount of woodland that it has today.

In fact, it used to be absolutely covered in trees.

6,000 years ago, in 4,000 BC, 90% of the UK was covered in native wildwood.

This was mainly broadleaf trees.

As we can see here on the percentage bar, the green of woodland covers most of the bar, with only 10% left to other land types.

There weren't many humans living in the UK at this time, thought to be around 250,000, and most of the land was native wildwoods.

Without the influence of humans, the UK would be mainly woodland and forest.

As the population increased, so did the need for open land and natural resources.

Over time, land was converted to agriculture, with areas of woodland cleared for crops or to create grassland for livestock.

Livestock are domestic animals kept for food, milk, leather, or wool.

For example, sheep, cows, or pigs.

Timber was also cleared for building resources and fuel.

Let's pause here and check your understanding.

Why were woodlands cleared by humans? A, to grow crops, B, people didn't like trees, C, to grow grassland for livestock, D, to use for building and fuel? Pause the video and select the correct answers.

The answers are A, C, and D.

Well done.

Woodland was cleared by humans for crops, to create grassland for livestock, or timber to use for building resources and fuel.

It definitely wasn't because people didn't like trees.

As time passed, so did the population of the UK, and human need for land and resources increased.

Woodland cover was reduced to about half of the land area of England during the Bronze Age, at around 2000 BC.

Let's try to show this information on a timeline.

This is us today at 2024 AD.

If we go 6,000 years back in time, the start of our timeline would be 4,000 BC.

This is what the woodland coverage bar would look like then.

Remember, it covered 90% of the land.

Let's add on the Bronze Age information.

That would be at 2000 BC.

Because Woodland was now 50%, half of the bar is green.

As we can see on this timeline, the green of woodland has dropped on our bar at 4,000 BC down to half at 2000 BC.

The Romans brought greater infrastructure to Britain.

Land was cleared for roads and agriculture greatly expanded.

Woodland cover was reduced again and became much more managed to supply the wood and timber that supported the Roman settlements and industries.

If we skip ahead to 1086, we can see another huge change in the amount of forest cover.

In 1085, William the Conqueror ordered a survey of over 13,000 places in England and parts of Wales for tax reasons.

It was nicknamed the Domesday Book, and it is useful today as it's recorded how much of the land was woodland and also who owned it.

It is estimated that the population of the UK had grown to around 2 million people at this time, and 15% of the woodland remained in the UK when the Domesday Book was published in 1086.

Can you see a pattern in the amount of woodland shown in green on the bars of our timeline? It's decreasing, isn't it? It's reduced a lot since the timeline began.

By 1900, at the end of Queen Victoria's reign, the population of the UK was around 14 million.

People had moved from rural areas to cities for work and so huge settlements were forming all over the UK.

The land needed for housing and industries was cleared, and the demand for wood for building resources and fuel was huge.

By 1900, only 5% of the UK was covered by woodland.

Let's pause here to check your understanding.

Looking at the timeline and bars showing green woodland and blue other land, what do you notice about the amount of woodland covering the UK over this time period? Pause the video now to discuss with your partner.

Can you see that the height of the green woodland bar has gone down in each bar? The amount of woodland has decreased.

It has dropped from 90% down to just 5%.

The severe timber shortages experienced during the First World War led to the formation of the Forestry Commission in 1919 to create a planned timber reserve.

In doing so, the Forestry Commission chose mainly non-native tree species, including conifers such as Sitka Spruce, Douglas Fir, and Western Red Cedar, which thrived in the British climate and grew much faster than native species.

Huge new coniferous forests were planted during this time, like this one at Kielder in Northumberland.

But in addition to planting new woodland, native woods all over the UK were cleared and replanted with conifers.

Many ancient and native woods were damaged or destroyed in the process.

Today, only 2% of Britain is covered by ancient woodland.

Despite now having more people living in the UK than ever before, about 67 million in 2021, the amount of woodland has decreased in the last 124 years.

Since 1990, value of ancient woodland has changed.

The days in which ancient woodland was converted to conifers has gone.

People now realise the importance of woodland and especially native trees.

This has led to a huge tree planting programme.

In the century since the Forestry Commission was established, woodland cover across the UK has now more than doubled and now covers 13% of UK land.

Let's check your understanding.

What has happened to the amount of woodland in the UK since 1900? A, it has more than doubled, B, it has remained the same, or C, it has halved? Pause the video and select the correct answer.

The answer is A.

Well done.

The amount of woodland in the UK has more than doubled since 1900 and now sits at 13%.

It's time for your first task today.

I would like you to use the timeline to write a description of how the UK's forests have changed over time.

Try to explain why these changes have happened.

You could write a report with headings or annotate the timeline.

Pause the video and do the task now.

Welcome back.

Well done for completing the task.

Let's take a look at a good example together.

Did your answer include any of the following? "6,000 years ago, 90% of the UK was covered in native woodland.

Woodland has been cut down throughout history to make way for agriculture, settlements, and infrastructure.

By 1900, only 5% of the UK was woodland.

To produce more timber quickly, huge new coniferous forests were planted.

Native woodland was sometimes cleared and conifers replanted.

Now it is understood that native woodland is important and broadleaf trees are being planted in addition to conifers.

Woodland now makes up 13% of the land in the UK.

This has more than doubled since 1900." Well done for demonstrating your understanding of how the UK's forests have changed over time.

Now that we have understood how the UK's forests have changed over time, we can look for evidence of these changes using historical and current maps.

So let's begin the second part of our lesson: How do maps show changes in forests? Old and new maps can be compared to identify changes in woodland over time.

Which changes might we see evidence of? Thinking back to the timeline that we looked at in the first part of the lesson, maybe we could see evidence of the removal of ancient woodland for human activity.

This would've occurred before 1900.

We might also be able to spot evidence of new conifer plantations that were planted during the 1920s onwards.

And finally, we could also see some replanting of native woodland that would've happened since the 1990s.

To identify these changes, we will be looking at some historical maps from the 1890s and 1950s.

They use slightly different symbols to modern OS maps, so let's just check that we know what we are looking for.

The modern symbol for a coniferous forest, as we saw in our last lesson, is a conifer shaped tree.

In 1959, the symbol for confers wood is quite similar and is still on a green area, but the black and white maps of 1890 make it a bit more difficult to spot woodland.

Non-coniferous or broadleaf woods are shown on maps today with this symbol.

In 1950s, they were noted like this, again, still on a green area.

The 1890s symbol for broadleaf woods is again similar, but also on black and white maps, so a little bit harder to spot.

Let's check your understanding.

Which of the following would indicate a new conifer plantation? A, B, or C? Pause the video and select the correct answer.

The answer is A, well done, because this is just conifers.

B is non-coniferous and C is mixed woodland with some conifers and some broadleaf trees.

Let's try and find some evidence of the removal of ancient woodland for human activity.

I have a map of Salford from the 1890s that we can use to do this.

Where is the woodland on this 1890s map? It's here around the edges of Trafford Park.

What type of woodland is this? It is mostly non-coniferous, but I can also see a few conifers dotted around.

Here is the exact same location on a map from the 1950s, about 60 years later.

Can you spot any woodland on this map? No, it has been cleared.

Why do you think the woodland has been removed and cleared? That's right, it has been cleared to create space for buildings and roads.

This area is still known as Trafford Park, but it was cleared to make room for an industrial area and the football stadium, Old Trafford.

Let's now take a look at new conifer plantations of the 1920s.

Where are the trees on this 1890s map of Kielder in Northumberland? They are mainly around Kielder Castle.

What type of trees are they? They are a mix of broadleaf trees next to the castle and then pockets of coniferous woodland.

Let's look at this map from the 1950s of Kielder, 60 years later.

Where are the trees now? They are everywhere.

Kielder is the largest forest in England.

The forest is owned and managed by the Forestry Commission, which began the first plantings in the 1920s.

What does this map tell us about the type of forest it is? Kielder is dominated by conifers.

Sitka spruce covers 75% of the planted area.

The forest was planted as a source of timber, and huge amounts are harvested every year to supply local saw milling, chipboard, pulp, and wood fuel customers.

Finally, let's see if we can see any evidence of native woodland being replanted since 1990.

This map shows an area between Swadlincote and Ashby de la Zouch in Derbyshire.

This map is from the 1950s.

Where is the woodland on this 1950s map? There are a few pockets of woodland, but nothing substantial.

What type of trees are they? The woods are mainly broadleaf trees.

This map shows the exact same area but 70 years later in 2024.

Where is the woodland now? The existing 1950s woodland is still there, but it has been hugely expanded.

Woodland has been planted all across the map.

This area, now called The National Forest, was chosen as one of the boldest environmental initiatives in the country, transforming a post-industrial landscape by creating a forest across 200 square miles of the Midlands, linking the ancient remnant forests of Charnwood and Needwood.

What type of trees are they? They are non-coniferous trees.

As a result of this native tree planting, forest cover dramatically increased from only 6% of the land area to more than 23%.

Let's check your understanding.

Which change can be seen on these two maps? Is it A, the removal of ancient woodland for human activity, B, new conifer plantations of the 1920s, or C, replanting of native woodland since the 1990s? Pause the video and select the correct answer.

The answer is B.

Well done.

Did you spot that in the first map there are very few trees, but on the second, there is a huge conifer forest? So the change shown by the maps is B, new confer plantations of the 1920s.

For your final task today, I would like you to look at some modern and historical maps of your local area and to describe any changes that you can see to the woodland.

Maybe woodland has disappeared.

Or maybe it has been expanded.

Maybe it has changed type.

You may even be able to suggest reasons or research why these changes have occurred.

If you don't have access to any historical maps, you can use these example maps of an area northeast of Swindon.

Pause the video and do the task now.

Welcome back and well done for completing the task.

If you used my example maps, did you spot any of the following? On the 1890s map, the only woodland visible is Great Wood and Owl Copse, non-coniferous woodland next to Stanton Fitzwarren.

By 1950, not much looks to have changed.

Great Wood and Owl Copse are still on the map in 1950 and there are no new areas of woodland.

But by 2024, we can see that there has been some big changes to the amount of woodland.

New woodland has been planted on land at Nightingale Farm and at Stratton Wood.

Both are non-coniferous.

In fact, the woodland at Nightingale is managed by the Forestry Commission and broad leaves account for three quarters of the trees planted.

This is evidence of native woodland replanting.

What did you find out about the changes to forests in your local area? Is there now more or less woodland? What is the main type of tree? Pause the video now and see if you can share your discoveries with a partner.

Well done for sharing what you discovered by analysing the changes in woodland on maps.

We've now come to the end of our lesson.

What a lot of learning we have done today.

We now know that without the influence of humans, the UK would mainly be woodland and forest.

We have learned that woodlands in 2023 covers 13% of UK land, but their health is in steep decline.

We know that woodland has been cut down through history to make way for farming, settlements, and transport links.

And we have found out for ourselves that old and new maps can be compared to identify changes in woodland over time.

Great geography today, everyone.

I hope you enjoyed finding out about how forests have changed in the UK.

I think we can all see how much is still to be done in restoring our beautiful native woodlands to their former glory.