Woodland Increasing Amounts and condition of habitats in Britain

Total land cover of Great Britain is 23.5 million hectares.

The most recent data suggests that developed land accounts for 1.8 million hectares, water bodies 0.3 million hectares, semi-natural land 7 million hectares, intensive agricultural land 10.8 million hectares and woodland 2.8 million hectares.

The total coverage of these different types of land cover changed between 1990 and 1998, most notably seen in a net increase in the amount of woodland of 2.1 per cent and a net decrease in the amount of semi-natural land of 1.5 per cent.

These estimates are based on the Countryside Survey 2000 (CS2000), which is a stratified sample survey that used detailed field recording and mapping to provide information on the stock and condition of habitats and landscapes in Great Britain in 1998.

The survey covered both terrestrial and freshwater habitats but did not cover areas more than 75 per cent built up. A similar Northern Ireland Countryside survey (NICS2000) was also completed, but since comparable estimates for 1990 are not readily available, our data only covers Great Britain.

Using the results of the 1990 survey and CS2000, it is possible to estimate changes in the stock of land cover types between 1990 and 1998. Our data sets out a summary of the main changes in land cover over the period, broken down by the type of change in the stock of land.