Celebrating 900-year-old Brampton Wood as we learn the importance of ancient woodlands for carbon storage

Caroline Fitton, of the Wildlife Trust in Cambridgeshire, explores a new study and marks a milestone.

Any encounter with an ancient oak is special and memorable: deeply ribbed and gnarled bark, thick, sturdy trunk, long, splayed branches providing safe havens for a myriad of species from insects to birds.

Ancient woods – any woodland that has existed continuously since 1600 – are of huge significance, and this month has seen the celebration of 900-year-old Brampton Wood being saved for posterity by the Wildlife Trust in Cambridgeshire 30 years ago, along with exciting new research showing that UK forests lock away twice as much carbon as previously thought.

In the research published last month, the new study reveals consequences for the understanding of carbon stocks and humanity’s response to climate change.

Conducted by an international team of scientists, the study used a novel 3D scanning technique and lasers which showed that old trees in particular are critical to fighting climate change.

The analysis assessed the amount of above-ground biomass used to derive carbon storage of trees, and found that the results were 77 per cent higher than previous estimates. Accurate calculations of the amount of carbon trapped in woodland can help inform decisions about best management – in addition to highlighting the cost to the environment of losing that woodland.

Home to more than 3,000 recorded species of animals and species of plants, Brampton Wood was mentioned in the Domesday Book in 1086 AD, belonging to the Norman conquerors until King John gave it to the Catholic church in 1215, passing from royalty to nobility, through several Huntingdonshire families.

Thirty years ago the Ministry of Defence, who had owned it since the 1950s, put it on the open market, which spurred the trust to successfully fundraise with the help of supporters to meet the £300,000 asking price, via a range of coffee mornings, slide shows, guided walks, street collections, market stalls, sponsored walks and a photo competition.

At the time more than 600 letters were written to John Major (Prime Minister and MP for Huntingdon) by local people and organisations concerned about the countryside – there were genuine fears that the wood may be sold to a private owner or a syndicate who may consider public access and nature conservation a low priority.

In full support also was Sir David Attenborough, who said: “After a magnificent campaign by local people and the Wildlife Trust, the opportunity to secure Brampton Wood has become a reality. It is our responsibility to ensure that our children, and theirs too, are able to experience this ancient woodland at first hand.”

The biodiversity of Brampton, as with any ancient wood, is dependent on a cycle of management, from coppicing to ongoing maintenance and clearing undergrowth to keep the paths and wide woodland rides open, controlling and cutting back scrub growth in certain areas.

The work is vital to maintain the wide array of wildlife that the wood and its grassland support – the thousands of species of plants, animals and insects, including a number of rare butterflies: the black hairstreak, purple emperor and white admirals.

To mark the anniversary of the purchase, regular volunteers who help manage the wood on monthly work parties, along with some who helped fundraise back in 1992, gathered to enjoy celebratory cakes and cheer the continued longevity of this important majestic woodland.

The new study, published in the journal Ecological Solutions and Evidence, follows a collaboration between researchers from UCL, UK’s National Centre for Earth Observation (NCEO), the Universities of Ghent, Oxford and Tampere, The National Physical Laboratory, and Sylvera.

Find out more at wildlifebcn.org/brampton-wood. And to find out more about volunteering with the trust, visit wildlifebcn.org/get-involved/volunteer and wildlifebcn.org/about-us/we-manage-100-nature-reserves/woodland-management.

Wildlife workshops

The trust’s 2023 programme of training workshops are now bookable – a chance to develop natural history skills, become enraptured with raptors, meet millipedes, lap up liverworts and plenty more. Visit www.wildlifebcn.org/get-involved/training-workshops