The recent episode of strong winds and heavy rain that swept across southern parts of the UK affected more then half of the 100,000 woodlands in the area.
Figures from the Forestry Commission show that the so-called St Jude storm will have had some impact on woodland, but few are expected to have suffered long term damage.
The Commission looked at the impact of the storm in October 2013 on trees and woodlands ranging from Cornwall to Suffolk.
More damage was found between Wiltshire and Kent with little or no damage recorded at the south-west and north-east extremes of the survey area.
The Forestry Commission’s national incident management team organised a survey of over 160 woodlands over two weeks. They were searching for trees blown over or snapped and looking at damage to their crowns to assess overall woodland damage.
Most damaged trees are very likely to be left where they are and will turn in to valuable dead wood habitats for wildlife.
Richard Greenhous, director of forest services at the Forestry Commission, said: "Sadly the storm left behind some personal tragedies but fortunately our woodlands proved resilient. They should readily recover from localised damage without seriously affecting local woodland and timber businesses and there could even be a benefit to wildlife conservation.
"Although around 70,000 woods were affected by the storm, the level of damage within the vast majority of these woods was low. Crown damage was highest at 3.7% of all trees across the storm area, but these trees will recover from that damage."
The Forestry Commission says one per cent of larger trees across the storm area were blown over, plus another 0.5% snapped around halfway up the trunk.
In hard numbers this could account for around 10 million trees 'lost' from the woodlands as a result of this natural event, but more than 650 million remain.
The forests are expected to quickly recover with trees growing into the gap left in the canopy from any that have fallen, with dead trees on the ground providing additional food sources and breeding habitats for flora and fauna such as lichens, fungi and invertebrates.
Woodland owners and managers who may be concerned or need help or advice about storm damage to their woodland should contact their Agent or Forestry Commission Area Office.
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