The Surrey Hills is one of the most wooded AONBs with almost 40% woodland cover. Woodland is perhaps now the defining feature of the Surrey Hills landscape.

This diverse woodland includes; shaws, old coppice, wooded ghylls, parkland trees, small carrs and conifer plantations.

Despite Surrey being Britain’s most wooded county, very little of it’s woodland is managed and the majority of the wood resource goes unused. This has a negative impact on biodiversity and access to the woodland.

Ancient woodland

Some woods have been managed since medieval times and many have distinctive boundaries such as earth banks with laid trees. Ancient woodland has particular significance in terms of historic and nature conservation importance. The Surrey Hills has 4564 hectares of Ancient Woodland that covers nearly 12% of the AONB.

Diverse environment

A range of factors have contributed to the evolution of the diverse Surrey Hills woodland. These include aspect, drainage,topography and soil type. Soil types include: clay (with ash, hornbeam and oak); chalk (with ash, beech and yew); and free draining sands (with oak, birch and Scots pine).

Woodland Management

The problem for many woodlands stems from the lack of management through neglect, fragmentation and commercial pressures. Woodlands are often sold into small leisure plots where damage to the environmental quality and sustainability of woodlands is caused by pests like deer and squirrels.

Coppice currently accounts for 15% of woodland cover, but this valuable wildlife resource is now largely neglected, leading to a loss of landscape character, biodiversity and historic interest.

There is a rapidly growing local market for wood fuel in the form of logs, wood chip and wood pellets. Surrey’s neglected woodlands therefore present a significant opportunity for the revitalisation of the local economy through the development of a supply of local renewable energy.