Shadow and Ghost Woodlands Survey Guide

This short survey guide is an introduction to investigating landscapes, looking for shadow and ghost woodlands. These are often ’lost woods’, which do not appear on maps as woodlands, or even have names can be indicators of former land-use over hundreds of years. The guide results from many years investigating wooded landscapes and has developed specifically from a project begun in 2009 by Professor Ian Rotherham and colleagues. In 2012, the project received funding from the Peak District National Park’s Sustainable Development Fund to involve volunteers in investigating the local landscape in the eastern Peak District. A version of the survey guide was produced for local volunteers. This publication brings the work together and illustrates wider issues and applications using some of the information from the project to date. There is still much more to do and other areas to investigate. The authors hope that this publication will act as both a guide and catalyst for further work.