Unlike many of the other woods in the area, Wheata Wood, Prior Royd and Birkin Royd are semi-natural or replanted ancient woodlands. Birkin Royd in particular has all of the characteristics of an ancient wood - an irregular shape, on a steep slope unlikely to have been cleared for farming, on a parish boundary and with a relatively rich ground flora.

The three woodlands contain a relatively wide variety of vegetation for their size, partly as a result of wide variations in the topography of the site and also as a result of differences in the management of different areas in the its past. All stages of woodland development are present, from the invasion of Birch into open heath, through the establishment of scattered Oak, to the development of communities of tall, mature, single-trunked Oaks with over-mature Birches.

VEGETATION TYPES
The distribution of different vegetation types at the site can be seen on the map below.

The classification of the different woodland types relates to that in the general descriptions of woodland types elsewhere on this website.