Identity:

Pasture woods are the products of historic land management systems, and represent a vegetation structure rather than being a particular plant community. Typically this structure consists of large, open-grown or high forest trees (often pollards) at various densities, in a matrix of grazed grassland, heathland and/or woodland floras. This habitat is most common in southern Britain, but scattered examples occur throughout the UK. Outgrown wood-pasture and mature high forest remnants occur in northern and central Europe, but the number and continuity of ancient (veteran) trees with their associated distinctive saproxylic (wood-eating) fauna and epiphytic flora are more abundant in Britain than elsewhere. Component habitat types include beech and yew woodland (G1.6 and G3.97), heathland (F4) and dry acid grassland (E1.7). A range of native species usually predominates amongst the old trees but there may be non-native species which have been planted or regenerated naturally.