Using Woodland Trust sites and data for research

How to request access to Woodland Trust sites for research and biological recording

We own more than 1,000 sites across the UK, covering tens of thousands of hectares. These sites are available for ecological research and biological recording. All our sites have management plans, containing further information about the sites, which are freely accessible via our visiting woods pages. Please refer to the site management plan before requesting specific permission to conduct research or surveys on a specified site.

You can submit a request to conduct research or biological recording on our estate. Please submit your request with plenty of advance notice. It can take around four weeks for us to grant permission for the requested activity to go ahead. While we aim to facilitate most requests, we are not able to approve all of them.

For most requests, we will require you to complete a licence agreement and risk assessment for the activity. We may also ask for proof of your liability insurance, protected species licence and ethical approval of your methods from your research institution.

Data-sharing of research findings and biological records

We encourage the sharing of research data and biological records as widely as possible, for the benefit of conservation. We highly recommend that species records gathered on our estate are submitted to iRecord (or other suitable national or local recording schemes), and that research findings are shared in open-access, peer-reviewed publications.

How to request access to Woodland Trust citizen science data for research

We harness the efforts of dedicated volunteers to gather data on woods, trees and wildlife throughout the UK.

Nature's Calendar

Nature’s Calendar records provide scientists with crucial evidence about the effects of climate change on the timing of natural events, such as dates of budburst or dates of migrant bird arrival. The Nature’s Calendar website gives further information on the data available to researchers and on how to contact the team for access requests. Nature's Calendar is supported by players of People’s Postcode Lottery.

Ancient Tree Inventory

The Ancient Tree Inventory maps the oldest and most important trees in the UK. Visit the Ancient Tree Inventory website for more information and to request access to the data using their contact form.