This is a list of the land owned or managed by the Forestry Commission on the Isle of Wight, England, United Kingdom. In Great Britain the Forestry Commission are the government department responsible for the protection and expansion of Britain's forests and woodlands. [1] As of 2007, there are 8 areas of woodland on the Isle of Wight being managed by the Forestry Commission, 5 are owned by them and 3 are leased from other owners.
Over the last few years the Forestry Commission has undertaken a detailed survey of the woodlands it manages on the Isle of Wight, as part of what it calls the "Isle of Wight Forest Design Plan". [2] Each woodland has its own comprehensive design plan that sets out how the FC proposes to manage the area over the next 30 years. These include very detailed maps and pie charts showing the current range of tree species found in each area, how this will be changed over the coming years, aerial photographs and plans on how access will be improved for visitors.
The data in the table is taken from the design plans for each woodland, available at their website. [3]
| Site name | Ownership | Area [A] | Grid reference [B] | Car park | Map [C] | ||
| Owned | Leased | Hectares | Acres | ||||
| Brighstone Forest |  | 482 | 1191.0 | SZ419849 | | 1 | |
| Parkhurst Forest | | 395 | 976.1 | SZ474906 | | 2 | |
| Combley Great Wood | | 130 | 321.2 | SZ545895 |  | 3 | |
| Firestone Copse | | 98 | 242.2 | SZ558910 | | 4 | |
| Burnt Wood | | 47 | 116.1 | SZ445923 | | 5 | |
| Kemphill Moor Copse | | 20 | 49.4 | SZ568898 | | 6 | |
| Woodhouse Copse | | 18 | 44.5 | SZ527928 | | 7 | |
| Bouldnor Copse | | ? | ? | SZ382902 | | 8 | |
Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the land forms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps.
The Forestry Commission is a non-ministerial government department responsible for the management of publicly owned forests and the regulation of both public and private forestry in England.
The Ordnance Survey National Grid reference system (OSGB), also known as British National Grid (BNG), is a system of geographic grid references, distinct from latitude and longitude, whereby any location in Great Britain can be described in terms of its distance from the origin, which lies to the west of the Isles of Scilly.
In the United Kingdom, ancient woodland is that which has existed continuously since 1600 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Planting of woodland was uncommon before those dates, so a wood present in 1600 is likely to have developed naturally.
The Irish grid reference system is a system of geographic grid references used for paper mapping in Ireland. Any location in Ireland can be described in terms of its distance from the origin, which lies off the southwest coast. The Irish grid partially overlaps the British grid, and uses a similar co-ordinate system but with a meridian more suited to its westerly location.
Wootton Bridge is a large village, civil parish and electoral ward with about 3,000 residents on the Isle of Wight, first recorded around the year 1086. The parish also contains the settlement of Wootton.
Twyford Wood, formerly known as Twyford Forest, is a commercial wood around grid reference SK948230 in Lincolnshire owned by the Forestry Commission, England, an agency of the British Government and managed by its subsidiary, Forest Enterprise (England).
Savernake Forest stands on a Cretaceous chalk plateau between Marlborough and Great Bedwyn in Wiltshire, England. Its area is approximately 4,500 acres.
Delamere Forest is a large wood in the village of Delamere in Cheshire, England. The woodland, which is managed by Forestry England, covers an area of 972 hectares making it the largest area of woodland in the county. It contains a mixture of deciduous and evergreen trees.
Brighstone Forest is located in the southwest of the Isle of Wight. It is the largest forest on the Isle of Wight, being just a few hectares larger than Parkhurst Forest. It is spread over a number of hilly ridges which form the backbone of the Isle of Wight. From west to east the ridges are Chessell Down, Westover Down, Brighstone Down, Newbarn Down, Rowborough Down and Idlecombe Down. The main entrance is located at grid reference SZ 419849. The forest lies close to the small town of Brighstone, and is part of the Isle of Wight AONB.
Geograph Britain and Ireland is a web-based project, begun in March 2005, to create a freely accessible archive of geographically located photographs of Great Britain and Ireland. Photographs in the Geograph collection are chosen to illustrate significant or typical features of each 1 km × 1 km (100 ha) grid square in the Ordnance Survey National Grid and the Irish national grid reference system. There are 332,216 such grid squares containing at least some land or permanent structure, of which 281,131 have Geographs.
The Great Britain Historical GIS is a spatially enabled database that documents and visualises the changing human geography of the British Isles, although is primarily focussed on the subdivisions of the United Kingdom mainly over the 200 years since the first census in 1801. The project is currently based at the University of Portsmouth, and is the provider of the website A Vision of Britain through Time.
The Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose, which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of 1745. There was also a more general and nationwide need in light of the potential threat of invasion during the Napoleonic Wars. Since 1 April 2015, the Ordnance Survey has operated as Ordnance Survey Ltd, a government-owned company, 100% in public ownership. The Ordnance Survey Board remains accountable to the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology. It was also a member of the Public Data Group.
There are over 9,300 Grade I listed buildings in England. This page is a list of these buildings in the county of Isle of Wight.
The United Kingdom, being in the British Isles, is ideal for tree growth, thanks to its mild winters, plentiful rainfall, fertile soil and hill-sheltered topography. In the absence of people, much of Great Britain would be covered with mature oaks as well as savannah-type of plains, except for Scotland. Although conditions for forestry are good, trees face threats from fungi, parasites and pests. Nowadays, about 13% of Britain's land surface is wooded. European countries average 39%, but this varies widely from 1% (Malta) to 66% (Finland). As of 2021, government plans call for 30,000 hectares to be reforested each year. Efforts to reach these targets have attracted criticism for planting non-native trees, or trees that are out of place for their surroundings, leading to ecological changes.
Scotland is ideal for tree growth, thanks to its mild winters, plentiful rainfall, fertile soil and hill-sheltered topography. As of 2019 about 18.5% of the country was wooded. Although this figure is well below the European Union (EU) average of 43%, it represents a significant increase compared to the figure of 100 years previously: in 1919 it was estimated that only 5% of the country's total land area was covered in forest. The Scottish Government's Draft Climate Change Plan has set an aim of increasing coverage to 21% of Scotland by 2032, with the rate of afforestation rising to 15,000 hectares per year by 2024.
There are over 20,000 Grade II* listed buildings in England. This page is a list of these buildings in the county of the Isle of Wight.
Briddlesford Nature Reserve consists of 158 hectares of land on the Isle of Wight that is composed of a complex of different habitats, including woodland, arable farmland, lowland meadow, parkland, pond, hedgerow and grazing marsh. The reserve encompasses a majority of the Briddlesford Copses Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and Special Area of Conservation (SAC) together with about 50 hectares of farmland. The reserve is owned by People's Trust for Endangered Species (PTES) and managed to preserve and enhance its biodiversity value.
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