News

Map reveals UK Land Cover and habitat distributions

21.07.2011

A new Land Cover Map in the UK has been launched. It provides a continuous coverage of habitat distributions across the countryside at a 25 m resolution. The map is the third produced by the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology Land and is based on a combination of satellite images and national scale digital mapping data. The map unveils that the largest habitats are improved grassland and arable and horticulture, covering 25% of the territory. These habitats are followed by semi-natural grassland (13%) and mountain, heath and bog (16%). An interesting figure is that for the broadleaved woodland habitat, which occupies up to 6%, the same space as urban areas. The Land Cover Map data can be obtained from the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH).