Climate change is perhaps the most important issue of our time with the effects starting to become apparent in altered regional temperature and precipitation regimes. In the context of future climate change projections, it will be critical to understand the response of semi-natural habitats to current changes. Upland oak woodlands in the UK are home to a unique assemblage of plant and animal communities, with Wistman’s wood on Dartmoor perhaps the most famous. The woods stunted growth is often cited as an example of a species at its physiological limits, yet its response to recent climate changes has yet to be investigated. This study makes use of weather records from one of the UK’s longest upland observation stations at Princetown (>400 m) and other local stations.