Eighteen woodland communities are described, divided according to broad descriptions of site characteristics and structural components (grove, open wooded habitats and glade). They are intended to support the establishment of locally appropriate and distinctive woods and trees without constraining this to specific National Vegetation Classification (NVC) communities. The inclusion of different species and their relative proportions must be site specific, with scope for natural processes (and time) to shape the composition. Therefore, the more detailed information for each of the 50 individual tree and shrub species in this handbook must be considered alongside these basic community tables. For species labelled ‘local’ in the communities, the maps for each individual species are an essential reference as they will help inform where a species will be most appropriate and contribute most to nature recovery.