Storm-damage and vegetation change in East Hampshire beechwoods I. Ashford Hanger National Nature Reserve (ENRR603)

Ashford Hangers National Nature Reserve is a semi-natural, beech-ash-yew woodland, growing on steep, narrow, chalk slopes in southern England. It suffered substantial stormdamage in 1987 and 1990, which was mapped across the reserve. This prompted the establishment of four 20×30m permanent plots, in which detailed records of trees, shrubs, ground vegetation and dead wood were made in 1988/9. Three of these, located in a minimum-intervention area on Ridge Hanger, were subsequently recorded in 1991 and 2001 to assess how they have developed.