News

This page holds an archive of news items written or published about Countryside Survey 2007.

The UK’s new Land Cover Map - now available

July 2011

LCM2007 - the UK’s new Land Cover Map released today (Wednesday 6 July) provides a continuous coverage of habitat distributions across the UK with improved geometric and thematic resolution. The release of the data is accompanied by the publication of a Final Report for LCM2007 which provides detailed information on how LCM2007 was developed and the different products available.

By basing the so called “spatial framework” on national cartography the 10 million land parcels represented in the new map better correspond to real world objects such as fields, lakes and settlements. Land cover within each parcel was derived from over 70 satellite images containing spectral information which corresponds to different ground surfaces and vegetation types in both summer and winter.

The new spatial framework in LCM2007 will improve our ability to monitor future changes in UK land cover and make it easier to integrate land cover data with other datasets.

Dr Dan Morton from the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology led the Land Cover Map project. He said, “At a time when our land surface is under increasing pressure, reliable information on land cover is essential. The demands that we place on our land are often conflicting and need to be balanced to maintain and enhance our quality of life. To address these issues and plan for the future we need to know what we have on our land surface and where it is. The new map provides this information and will find many new applications.”

LCM2007 is available in a range of data formats and spatial resolutions to suit different user requirements. For more information about the new products and how to access them please follow this link.

New Land Cover Map - available from 06 July 2011

June 2011

The Countryside Survey Partnership is pleased to announce that the Land Cover Map 2007 products will be available from Wednesday 06 July 2011.

The datasets will be available (under licence) in different formats to suit various user needs. The polygon (vector) product is the most detailed. Its spatial structure has been derived from national cartography and each polygon represents a parcel of land with attached metadata describing the land cover and how this was derived. A set of raster products simplify this information: the 25x25m raster gives the most likely Broad Habitat for each pixel and a set of freely available 1km x 1km raster products summarise this further.

Release of the LCM2007 products will be accompanied by a Webinar on 07 July to introduce potential users to the new products and provide an opportunity for participants to pose questions to the LCM team. Details of the programme will be available shortly. If you would like an invitation please contact enquiries@ceh.ac.uk.

Further details of the LCM2007 products and how to gain access to them will be made available on the Countryside Survey website in preparation for the release.

An introduction to LCM2007; a free webinar on 07 July 2011

June 2011

The latest UK land cover map (LCM2007) derived from satellite data and digital cartography is shortly to be released for use by a wide range of users, including: researchers, consultants, policy makers, businesses and the public.

To inform existing and potential users about LCM2007 and how it can be accessed and used, the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (CEH) and other Countryside Survey partners are hosting a webinar that will be broadcast over the internet from 11:00 to 12:00 on Thursday 07 July. In brief, the programme will be as follows:

  • Welcome & introduction (Mark Bailey, CEH)
  • Why do we need a Land Cover Map? – a policy perspective (Peter Costigan, Defra)
  • An introduction to the new LCM2007 (Dan Morton and Clare Rowland, CEH)
  • Accessing LCM & other environmental data (Pete Vodden, CEH)
  • Question and answer session

Please click here if you would like to register for this free event.

Land Cover Map 2007 – available soon

March 2011

The new UK Land Cover Map 2007 will be more than just the latest in a series of land cover maps showing the stock and distribution of Broad Habitats across the UK. Derived from satellite imagery and in situ reconnaissance data, it builds on the work of earlier versions (LCM1990 and LCM2000) but introduces a much improved spatial framework. LCM2007 will represent a step change in land cover mapping, creating a spatial database with a ‘field-by-field’ resolution (approx 0.5 hectare) that is more easily recognisable in the real landscape structure and making integration with other datasets and models readily achievable.

The datasets for both GB and NI have been completed and CEH is now busy documenting them, concluding licensing negotiations and preparing the data in different formats ready for distribution, including: “1x1km Dominant” and “1x1km Summary” raster products, a “25x25m raster” and a “vector” product.

The main deliver route to users will be via the CEH Information Gateway at: https://gateway.ceh.ac.uk. Some products will be directly downloadable from the CIG but due to large file sizes and licensing considerations some products will require that negotiations and delivery are outside of the CIG environment.

The formal release date of this important new national data set has not yet been finalised but will be announced shortly.

For more details on Land Cover Map products please follow this link.

Countryside Survey – Integrated Assessment report published

October 2010

The Countryside Survey (CS) Integrated Assessment report will be published on 27th October 2010. The analysis in the report uses CS data to investigate the ecosystem services provided by the countryside. This work was led by scientists from the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (CEH) working with colleagues from CS partner organisations.

Increasing pressure on natural resources and declining biodiversity have led to a concern about the potential of natural and semi-natural ecosystems to provide for human requirements both currently and in the future. Termed ‘ecosystem services’, these provide a focus for policy makers seeking to ensure sustainable development. Ecosystem services provide a significant challenge for scientists. Difficulties arise in their definition, valuation and measurement of stocks and flows. It is problematic but of vital importance to quantify how ecosystem services interact with each other within and between ecosystems.

The CS Integrated Assessment tested novel approaches for using CS data alongside other national datasets to understand how different services respond to anthropogenic pressures over time at a national scale. It enabled CEH scientists not only to quantify some services, but also to make maps of where the services are provided, determine possible causes of changes in services over time, and even to model what might happen under ‘what if’ scenarios. To date, much work in this area has focused on small scale experiments or on datasets which have been collected at different scales and with different purposes. The Integrated Assessment is uniquely able to use data collected at common sites using a sampling regime statistically designed to provide a representation of Great Britain.

Understanding ecosystems at any scale is a significant scientific challenge and this work, like that of the National Ecosystem Assessment (NEA), explores new scientific territory. Thirty-eight bio-physical variables (covering the range of Millennium Ecosystem Assessment service categories) measured in Countryside Survey were identified as potential indicators of ecosystem services. These included measurements from headwater streams, soils, vegetation and cultural aspects of landscapes. These new results provide unique large scale evidence that key global change phenomena such as air pollution and land use change have affected delivery of ecosystems services across the British countryside and have continued to drive change over the last two decades.

Ponds, Soils and Headwater Streams reports now published

February 2010

Information on the state of the Great Britain’s ponds, headwater streams and soils is presented in three reports published today by the Countryside Survey partnership.

The reports show some positive signals for conservation of biodiversity, such as improvements in the quality of headwater streams, an increase in the number of ponds, a reduction in phosphorus in soils and recovery in some soils from the effects of acid rain. However, the reports also show some negative signals; for example, ponds in England and Wales are widely degraded and pond quality has declined over the past decade.

Key findings described in the Ponds report include:

  • In 2007, the number of ponds in Great Britain was estimated to be 478,000.
  • The 2007 survey provided evidence that as measured by their composition of plants, ponds in England and Wales were widely degraded, with around 80% of ponds being of Poor or Very Poor quality.
  • There was a high turnover of ponds between 1998 and 2007, with an estimated 18,000 ponds lost and 70,600 new ponds created. New ponds were typically of better quality and supported more plant species than older ponds.

Key findings described in the Soils report include:

  • Overall there was no change in carbon concentration in the soil (0-15 cm) in Great Britain of for individual countries between 1978 and 2007. This is important because soils hold a large amount of carbon which if released to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide could contribute to climate change.
  • The recovery in soil (0-15 cm) pH detected by Countryside Survey in 1998 has continued amongst the less acidic, mineral and humus-mineral soils suggesting recovery from acidification.
  • There were an estimated 12.8 quadrillion (1.28x1016) soil invertebrates present in the top 8 cm of Great Britain soils during the time of Countryside Survey sampling in 2007!

Key findings described in the Headwater Streams report include:

  • Increases in the number of headwater stream plant species, and in habitat quality appear to have occurred throughout Great Britain.
  • Overall, changes occurring to the ecological status of headwater streams are broadly positive, although some negative changes will need further investigation.

Copies of the full reports are available for downloading from the Technical Reports section of this website. The data underpinning these reports have been released previously and are available to download via the CS Data Access services.

More CS soils and freshwater data released

December 2009

The Countryside Survey partnership is pleased to announce that more soils and freshwater data have been released today (11 December 2009). The new data released includes: soil carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, metals and mesofauna; macroinvertebrates in headwater streams; and further data on pond numbers and condition. Some of these data have been collected for the first time as part of the 2007 survey, whereas others date back as far as 1978. A summary of all the datasets now available from Countryside Survey can be viewed by following this link: Summary of datasets.

New users will need to register to access the datasets. Existing users should have access using your current login details. We hope you will find the new data of interest and welcome your feedback.

More CS data to be released in December

November 2009

The Countryside Survey partnership is pleased to announce that more summary and square level data from the 2007 Survey will be made available via this website at 09:30am on 11 December 2009.

The new data to be released will include:

  • Soils data on nitrogen, phosphorus, metals and mesofauna.
  • Headwater streams data on macroinvertebrates.
  • Further data on pond numbers and condition.

Please note that in order for this new data to be added to the CS website it will be necessary to suspend access to the summary and square level data for a couple of days prior to the release. We hope this will not cause too much inconvenience.

Once this new data has been made available it will complete the planned release of the underlying data from the 2007 Survey and provide a unique resource for use by all in a wide range of potential applications.

Northumberland landscape © Lindsay Maskell Northumberland landscape © Lindsay Maskell

England results from the 2007 Survey now available

September 2009

The results of the biggest and most comprehensive survey of England’s countryside and its natural resources are unveiled in a report published today by the Countryside Survey partnership. The new results for England show some positive signals for conservation of biodiversity across widespread and common habitats, but these signals become more mixed at the finer scale. Some of the key messages from the survey include:

  • An increase in frequency of the plant species used as food by butterfly caterpillars and farmland birds in Broadleaved Woodland and Arable and Horticulture Broad Habitats, as well as along hedgerows.
  • Based on vegetation criteria alone, almost 80% of ponds in England were in poor condition in 2007.
  • Soil pH (in the upper 15cm) has increased in many Broad Habitats associated with recovery from previous high levels of acid deposition, though the impacts of these changes on vegetation are less obvious.
  • The total length of woody linear features decreased by 1.4% and the total length of managed hedgerows decreased by 6.1% between 1998 and 2007, with a large proportion of these managed hedges turning into lines of trees and relict hedges.
  • 50% of managed hedges were in good structural condition.

A fuller list of key messages can be found in the Executive Summary of the main report.

Dr Ian Simpson from the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, who is the Project Manager for Countryside Survey, said of the England report: “It is the product of a highly successful partnership between the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology and partner organisations. It is the first comprehensive Countryside Survey report for England and complements those launched recently for Scotland and Wales. The new results are vital scientific evidence documenting the state of the English countryside and the changes which have occurred since previous surveys.”

The England results from Countryside Survey in 2007 are now available from this website – visit the England Results from 2007 page to download a copy of the report in electronic format.

Wales results from the 2007 Survey now available

August 2009

The results of the most comprehensive survey of the Welsh countryside and its natural resources were published on 21st July in a report by the Countryside Survey partnership.

The report identifies some positive changes including an increase in the area of broadleaved woodland, an improvement in the physical condition of streams, an increased number of ponds, and a reduction in soil acidity in line with reduced emissions of sulphur. However, there is evidence that these changes have taken place against a general backdrop of decreasing plant species richness that is at odds with the aim of halting biodiversity loss. The survey also found that topsoil carbon stocks have remained stable over recent decades.

The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and Defra commissioned the UK wide survey on behalf of a partnership of governments, and their departments and agencies. The research in Wales was carried out by NERC’s Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, in partnership with the Welsh Assembly Government, Defra and Countryside Council for Wales (CCW). Additional funding from the Welsh Assembly Government and CCW allowed extra sampling in Wales to be carried out to produce the first ever country-level report for Wales.

Rural Affairs Minister, Elin Jones said: “The Countryside Survey provides a valuable and scientifically reliable insight into many aspects of the Welsh countryside, including the state and condition of our habitats, landscape features such as hedgerows, water systems and our soils. Evidence from the survey will have an important role in predicting the likely outcome of different policies and pressures such as agri-environment schemes and climate change.”

The Wales results from Countryside Survey in 2007 are now available from this website – visit the Wales Results from 2007 page to download a copy of the report in electronic format.