Old herbarium specimens have become increasingly well-recognised as a rich source of ecological baseline data. For long-continuity plant communities, such as ancient woodland, these records may be particularly important for present day ecological management. To evaluate this potential, searches for pre-1950 Ancient Woodland Indicator (AWI) herbarium specimens collected in East Gloucestershire, UK, were conducted using digital open access sources and the physical Royal Agricultural University herbarium. In total 305 specimens were retrieved from twelve herbaria, with small regional collections being particularly important sources. The earliest specimen dated to 1834. There was a significant association between old specimen availability and year of collection, due to a peak in the late-1800s and early-1900s. Over half of the AWI species for the region were represented, although some taxonomic bias was evident. To determine if old AWI specimens contributed any new location records, 246 unique specimens with detailed georeferences were mapped and compared to the locations of 1950-1999 and 2000-2021 biological records. One third of the pre-1950 specimens had not been recorded in the same locality since collection of the old specimen, indicating either a gap in recent records or floristic change. However, length of time since specimen collection was not a predictor of a 1950-2000 or 2000-2021 record in the same locality. Overall, it is highly recommended that policy-makers, land managers, and field surveyors consult old AWI herbarium records for ancient woodland identification, management, and restoration.

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1. Popular campaigns such as No Mow May seek to encourage early-season forage resource for pollinators in urban green spaces. Land managers need to balance ecological benefits with extent of accessible amenity grassland. 2. To pilot the identification of a 'tipping point' when the nectar resource of unmown grassland exceeds that mown, we surveyed floral abundance in 30 plots on an amenity grassland site at 11 time points between late April and July. Each species' floral abundance per 1 m 2 was multiplied by published nectar sugar values to obtain an overall nectar sugar value per plot.3. The nectar sugar value of no-mow plots was overall significantly higher than for mown plots. However, week-by-week analysis revealed that the first significant difference did not occur until mid-late May when no-mow plots yielded three times the nectar sugar value of the mown plots. In early-mid June, there was a significant eightfold divergence followed by a late June to early July decline. Common Ragwort (Senecio jacobaea) provided the greatest nectar sugar value, driving significant differences again in mid-July. No-mow plots contained twice as many (22 vs. 11) open flower broadleaf species compared to the mown plots. Land managers could consider extending No Mow May management into Juneand beyond to maximize nectar sugar resource for pollinators. To comply with S. jacobaea legislation, a management plan and financial resource should be allocated to no-mow projects.