SIR David Attenborough has called for the UK to prioritise protecting and restoring its native woodland – while branding one conifer plantation "lifeless".
Monoculture woodlands can be "cold, dark and inhospitable" to the country's wildlife, the broadcaster said, instead insisting it should be our target to create "woodlands as rich as we once had".
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However, the criticism of conifer plantations – which are key to the UK's forestry industry – appears to be in direct contrast to recent comments from the Forestry Commission's chief executive, who told of the need to end the "dogma around conifers", saying a well-managed plantation can support a wide-range of wildlife.
Speaking during episode two of the five-part BBC series Wild Isles, Sir David said of one conifer plantation in Cornwall: "This plantation is cold, dark and inhospitable.
"Ancient, diverse woodlands have more fungal connections and support more life than young plantations that contain a single species.
"Such monocultures usually consist of fast-growing, non-native trees that today account for almost half of all our tree cover."
He went on to say: "Our woodlands are now expanding but the new plantations are mostly of low diversity.
"We need to give better protection to the native woodlands that remain. Restore those we have lost. And allow our trees the time and space to spread, naturally.
"It will take many years to create woodlands as rich as we once had, but surely it should be our target to do so."
Woodlands were the theme of Sunday night's episode of Sir David's first documentary series to focus entirely on the British isles, with the Forest of Dean and Scotland's Caledonian pine forests among those featured.
Topics included the reintroduction of wild boar to the nation's woodlands, and the relationship between trees and forest fungi.
During the introduction to the programme, Sir David said since he was born – in 1926 – Britain has lost almost half of its woodlands and is now one of the least forested countries in Europe.
“Woodland covers only 13 per cent of the British Isles and human influence can be seen in every single bit of it,” he added. “But despite this, there is a remarkable variety in the woodland that remains.”
Criticism of conifer plantations has been long standing, but in recent years the industry has made efforts to fight its corner, saying a mixture of conifer and broadleave plantations are needed to fulfill all of the UK's climate goals, including reducing the country's timber imports. The UK remains the world's second-largest net importer in the world, just behind China.
Speaking during December's Confor conference, the FC's Richard Stanford said: “We must end the dogma of native broadleaf good, conifer bad. Well-managed conifer forests with plenty of light and structure can support a wide range of wildlife, including woodland birds, mammals, amphibians, reptiles, plants and fungi.
"Mature conifers provide roosting holes for bats, nest sites for kites, goshawk and pine martens and seeds for red squirrels, siskins and crossbills."
In a change to 2021's planting figures, more broadleaves were planted than conifers across the UK in the 12 months prior to March, with only Scotland putting more of the latter in the ground. Overall 6,960 hectares of broadleaves were planted (up from 6,220 ha), while conifers accounted for 6,880 ha (down from 7,190 ha in 2021).
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Other figures to defend conifers in recent times include Scotland's former cabinet secretary with a responsibility for forestry, Fergus Ewing, who said during a parliamentary debate last year: "We need to maintain and not reduce the current proportion of 60 per cent of new plantings being commercial [in Scotland].
"We also need to maintain, as far as possible if we are to remain consistent with the forestry standard, the proportion of restocking that is of coniferous species."
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