On the 1st of May 2023, I headed out along Woolley Edge to find a place to paint, plein air, one of the Ancient Woodlands in the Wakefield District. In fact, I found a good place to paint 4. I took a 40cm x 20cm cradled wooden panel to paint on. I wanted to keep the 1×2 format I’d previously used for Boundary No Boundary.
Ancient Woodland is defined as an area that has been wooded continuously since 1600 AD. It is sub-divided into ancient semi-natural woodland and plantations on ancient woodland sites. Ancient Woodland is particularly valuable for its biodiversity because of its longevity and is identified in the Wakefield District Biodiversity Action Plan. Once lost Ancient Woodland cannot be recreated.
There are 21 areas of Ancient Woodland in the Wakefield District.
Here’s a link to maps https://consult.wakefield.gov.uk/portal/spatial_policy/ssplp/ssplp?pointId=1338544405715
Natural England has developed an Ancient Woodland Inventory for England which is available as a national database. However only sites over 2 hectares are shown on this inventory. In Wakefield District all known Ancient Woodland has been designated for protection regardless of its site area.
Natural England’s inventory can be found here – https://naturalengland-defra.opendata.arcgis.com/datasets/a14064ca50e242c4a92d020764a6d9df_0/explore?location=53.618685%2C-1.526953%2C12.72
And here is the painting.
Acrylic on panel – 40cm x 20cm
tony wade 