Woodland Condition Monitoring Protocol

Each reserve is divided into 1 hectare (100m x 100m) grid squares. Routes are set through the reserve to cover all grid squares. The surveyor walks the route, completing a series of ticklists and measurements for each survey square. Different features are observed for surveys throughout the year.

Spring - Trees

There are 16 native species/species groups and 7 common non-native species that you are most likely to encounter, which are provided on the survey sheet but you can add other species you observe in each survey square.
Oak, birch, willow and cherry have been grouped together – you don’t have to identify to species.

You will need to assess the size of the trees you encounter and decide if they form part of the canopy, the understorey or both – a simple tick in the correct box(es). Judging whether a tree species is present in the canopy, the understorey or both by looking at the height and other features. These are defined as:

• Canopy - mature or veteran trees, created from the branches and leaves of the oldest trees within the woodland. >5m tall
• Understorey - seedlings & saplings & young trees/shrubs, dominated by younger versions of local trees, and species that require lower levels of light e.g. hazel, holly, hawthorn and rowan. <5m tall

Once you have been through your square, choose one of 4 options:

• Canopy cover is mostly…. Write in the dominant canopy species (e.g. Birch) – only if there is ONE species very frequent/dominant in the square;
• If there is not one dominant species, choose from:
  • Canopy is mixed broadleaves (e.g. there is a mix of oak and birch)
  • Canopy is mixed conifer (e.g. you are in a plantation of mixed larch, pine and spruce)
  • Canopy is a mix of broadleaves and conifer 

Spring - Invasive species

In each survey square we are also checking for presence/absence of 7 plant species. On the survey form we mark their presence/absence –by adding a tick if present or a cross if absent. For each of the species present we also give a cover score from 0-3 to determine the abundance of the species.

Invasive species of interest:

• Japanese knotweed
• Himalayan balsam
• American skunk cabbage
• Cotoneaster
• Snowberry
• Variegated Yellow Archangel
• Holly (a native species that we also assess the 0-3 cover)

Cover scores

• 0 = not present.
• 1 = rare (a few, scattered, not very many)
• 2 = some (a large range – some, quite a lot, in between rare and complete)
• 3 = complete cover (it’s everywhere)

Identification notes

If you aren’t sure about the identification of a tree/shrub, you can:

• Call it ‘species A’
• Take photos and/or a sample
• Use ID books or online resources
• Check with other volunteers, use the Facebook group or ask an ecologist
   

Data input

Survey data should be input soon after the survey. There are a number of survey forms for the surveys throughout the year which you can find at the bottom of the survey protocol page. Note that whoever does the data entry is the only person who will be able to edit the records at a later date (other than Sheffield and Rotherham Wildlife Trust staff). For getting the map reference (eg. SK231482) for a survey square you must look up the survey squares on this table: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1YX-2lxpSMavFlRPBvylX4hSZfdW-tWY4esijBeVGqAg/edit?usp=sharing

Woodland Condition Monitoring (Trees) - Spring

This form is for entering the tree data from the Spring woodland monitoring survey.

• Recorder: please add the recorder's name using the format "Surname, First name". Separate multiple recorders using a semi colon (;). Example: "Bloggs, Joe; Rolph, Simon"
• Date: click in the box and it will bring up a date picker. Ensure you select the day that the survey was done, not today's date.
• Grid number: this is the number of the grid that you were surveying. It will start with the letter A, for example: A27
• Sheffield and Rotherham Wildlife Trust site: which site you were surveying. ensure that if you were surveying Low Hall Wood and Low Spring Wood that you select those reserves and not Greno Woods.
• OS grid reference of survey square: This is where you need to look up your survey square's grid reference using the grid number and this table. When you enter the grid square (it will start with the letters SK) and press enter the map will not automatically update to show you the square that you have selected.
• Tree canopy composition: here you select from the drop down which is the same as the options on the survey form. If you select the 'Mostly one species' option then you must select one species in the Dominant canopy species column in the species table below by ticking the corresponding box.
• Species: for each of the native trees, non-native trees and invasive species you tick:
  • Whether it is present at all in the survey square (all species) - this does not appear on the paper survey form (as of 08-06-2021) but must be ticked for species that are present so that the species records are created for these species.
  • Whether it is present in the canopy (trees only)
  • Whether it is present in the understory (trees only)
  • Coverage score from 0-3 (invasive species only)
  • You can also add images for each of the species if you want the species record to be verified. You can also add new species by starting to type a species name in the species column.
• Comment: if there are any general comments about the survey square then you can put them in here

When you have pressed submit you should see a green message saying 'Thank you for your record'. If you do not see this message your record has not been successfully entered onto the Nature Counts database. If you think something is wrong with the survey form then please email data4nature@wildsheffield.com