1. Dr Helen Pontier Senior Scientific Advisor for Habitats Defra
Countryside Survey UK
Dr Helen Pontier
Senior Scientific Advisor for Habitats Defra

2. Land Cover Map
Satellite observations to generate the land cover map. Next ready by 2009
Creation of the land cover map involves plenty of science and technical development-to obtain the right sort of information from the satellite and to interpret the signals into meaningful land cover classes- eg deciduous woodland- it is highly complex, and wont be discussed in detail here-except to say that there are landcover maps for 1990, 2000 and the new land cover map will be ready in 2009, which uses a slightly different method and includes and improvement in the form of mapping reference from OS Master Map.
Land cover map provides information about change in agriculture- such as changes in the amounts of broad ( semi natural) habitat, improved grassland or different crops and could be related to responses to CAP reform or other drivers.

3. Field Survey Sampling Strategy: Environmental Stratification
40 environmental strata
(in GB)
Sample size
(km squares)
In order to ensure that our sample is representative of the wide range of variation in our countries, the area is divided according to climatic influences- warm wet oceanic on the west, cold arctic form the north, and dry cool continental from the east-the method also allows for altitude giving 6 environmental zones- but there is also a need to take account of different geology, soils, topography and history of land use and settlement-so the environmental zones are subdivided again to give 40 land classes.
Each dot represents a fixed 1 km square-and these are at fixed (confidential) locations, although the number of squares sampled increases every time the survey is done, to answer an increasing number of policy questions, including those for agriculture. The current survey was increased to allow reporting at individual country level for the first time ( as opposed to previous surveys which reported at the GB or UK level).
Long time series for change and trend analysis

4. Field Survey Sampling Strategy-up close
Sampling of
vegetation (plots)
freshwater
soils
Countries and environmental
zones in GB covered by 629 1km squares
The information is collected from each 1 km square- first all the broad habitat is mapped, then at a more detailed level, particular features, called ‘plots’ in the square are sampled and recorded. Unlike the satellite observation, the field survey really does mean that the ecologists have to get down and dirty! The surveyors in this picture have just marked this plot out to study it in more detail. There are different types of plots- such as
Boundary, Hedgerow, Targeted habitat ( such as Chalk grassland), Margin into the field; Woody species hedge, Road verge and Arable field margins. The latter were added for reporting the previous Countryside Survey in 2000, since concerns about losses in diversity of this habitat elevated it to UKBAP status ( it is was then called Cereal Field Margins) , and there was a need to provide information about change in species richness and condition in the wider landscape.
We also take and analysis soils and stream water samples and we record information about condition- We record features as listed here, and we also record habitat quality, including: Plant species, % cover, species richness, pH score, fertility score (Ellenberg), soil moisture scor, competitive plant species, ruderals, number of bird food plant species, number of butterfly larvae food plant species, soil attributes, water quality and aquatic biodiversity!
This gives a multivariate data set- and helps build the time series for analysis of changes, trends, and possible relationships or drivers of change.
Broad Habitat types and landscape features mapped in each 1km sample square