This is a spatial dataset contain the location of Traditional Orchards sites around Wales. Traditional orchards are listed as a UK BAP priority habitats, which are those habitats that were identified as being the most threatened and requiring conservation action under the UK Biodiversity Action Plan (UK BAP). Traditional orchards are structurally and ecologically similar to wood-pasture and parkland, with open-grown trees set in herbaceous vegetation, but are generally distinguished from these priority habitat complexes by the following characteristics: the species composition of the trees, these being primarily in the family Rosaceae; the usually denser arrangement of the trees; the small scale of individual habitat patches; the wider dispersion and greater frequency of occurrence of habitat patches in the countryside. Traditional orchards include plantings for nuts, principally hazel nuts, but also walnuts. Management of the trees is the other main feature distinguishing traditional orchards and wood-pasture and parkland. Trees in traditional orchards are, or were, grown for fruit and nut production, usually achieved through activities such as grafting and pruning; whereas timber has been the main product from trees in wood-pastures and parkland, mostly derived from pollarding or selective felling. Grazing or cutting of herbaceous vegetation are integral to orchard management, as they are in wood-pastures and parkland.
