Surveying Habitats
Habitats come in many different shapes and sizes within your local area. At first you may think your local area has few wildlife habitats, but take a walk and you may be surprised by the diversity. Hedgerows adorned with blackberries; the village green, covered with daisies and buttercups; the churchyard with its ivy-clad walls and large native trees; the village duck pond, which is also home to frogs during the spring; the school playing field with its area of long grass. A basic habitat survey will help you map the habitats within your parish, and can lead to you identifying areas where you can carry out other more detailed wildlife and habitat surveys.
What is a habitat survey?
A habitat survey (also known as a Phase 1 Habitat Survey) will involve walking around your parish to map out the main habitats present such as:
The survey will also highlight key features present in the landscape such as ancient trees, ponds and other water bodies. It will also help you build up a picture of what is in your parish and how different habitats can be linked up, for example areas of woodland linked by a hedgerow.
Taking it further…
Your habitat survey can be used to:
- Identify areas of habitat which may be important for local wildlife.
- Inspire further surveys on particular features, e.g. hedgerows, ponds or the historic environment.
- Create a future vision to show how the local area could be improved for wildlife.
- Inform planners of the important habitats present so that development can take this into account.
- Work with landowners to manage the parish for wildlife.
- Update the Norfolk Biodiversity Information Service with details of the habitats present in your parish.
Why not start a simple survey today?
Plan your survey…
It is a good idea to work out routes and determine the area you wish to cover before setting out. Before going out you can look up your survey area on
Google Map or
Bing Map so you have an idea of what you can expect to see.
Take one step at a time…
Split our local area into a number of 1km squares and complete each square before moving on to the next – perhaps involving a group of people to cover a wider area.
Much of a habitat survey can be undertaken from the road or public footpaths, but remember that if you do want to cross private land you must get permission from the landowner beforehand.
Equipment
You may find the following equipment useful:
- Good walking boots or wellies
- A pair of binoculars to help assess a habitat which you may not be able to get to
- A map of the area you are surveying on which you can mark your findings and identify where you are! Try to get as large a scale as you can – 1:10,000 will give you room to mark your map easily. (www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/getamap/)
- Colour pencils
- Camera (not essential)
- GPS (not essential)
Need some inspiration?
Discover just some of the habitat surveys people have been carrying out in Norfolk.
Would you like to tell us about your habitat survey? Click here.
For all your habitat surveying needs…
You may find the following books, dvds, cds and equipment helpful when carrying out a habitat survey:
Get the low down on Norfolk wildlife
Related questions
Surveying habitats – How do I find out what habitats are in a local area?
Once you are equipped to start surveying habitats you will need to make your own map. You will need to incorporate the main habitat areas in your map which will show at a glance the habitats present. The map can be annotated by codes and colours. Remember to keep it simple.
So what codes/colours should I use?
Below are listed the standard codes and colours as used by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee, for further information see: Handbook for Phase 1 Habitat Survey – A Technique for Environmental Audit (2007) or visit
www.jncc.gov.uk/page-2468
Habitat
|
Code |
Colour |
Arable/farmland
Woodland
Scrub
Grassland
Amenity Grassland
Bracken/nettles
Heathland
Spring/fen
Standing Water
Running Water
Hedgerow |
A
A1
A2
B
A
J
G2
E
G1
D
C
|
No Colour
Dark Green
Green Hatch
Yellow
Orange
Brown
Yellow
Purple
Blue
Blue
Green Line |
You may decide to identify the types of habitat in more detail than shown above. For example, separating deciduous woodland from coniferous woodland is quite straightforward. Separating different types of grassland can be tricky, but with practice it is fairly easy to distinguish between improved grassland and semi-improved and unimproved grassland, which are important habitats for wildlife.
Create target notes
As well as marking your map with colours/codes, you can also indicate key items such as an ancient tree by including a target note.
Mark each target note with a number on your map and on a separate sheet of paper record what it is and the reason for including it as a target note. You can also include key species that you may spot during your survey such as an unusual plant or maybe a barn owl flying overhead.
End result – digitising or colouring in the main map
Once the survey is complete, a map showing the whole parish can then be marked up. The map will then show at a glance the key habitats in your local area.