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Layer: Priority habitats inventory (ID: 3)

Name: Priority habitats inventory

Display Field: Main_Habit

Type: Feature Layer

Geometry Type: esriGeometryPolygon

Description: *** PLEASE NOTE - This version of the Priority Habitats’ Inventory is being released as a beta release, with the intention to produce an updated version in the next few months***This is a spatial dataset that describes the geographic extent and location of Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act (2006) Section 41 habitats of principal importance.This inventory replaces Natural England's previous separate BAP habitat inventories: blanket bog, coastal & floodplain grazing marsh, coastal sand dunes, coastal vegetated shingle, deciduous woodland, fens, lowland calcareous grassland, lowland dry acid grassland, lowland heathland, lowland meadows, lowland raised bog, limestone pavements, maritime cliff and slope, mudflats, purple moor grass & rush pastures, reedbeds, saline lagoons, traditional orchards, undetermined grassland, upland calcareous grassland, upland hay meadows and upland heathland. These earlier inventories were produced from 1999 onwards and derived from habitat datasets collated from across the country, prioritising areas outside of designated sites. Inconsistencies in the quality of the underpinning data meant that the inventories were of variable quality with significant overlaps between habitats and gaps in coverage.The Priority Habitats’ Inventory (PHI) project began in April 2012 and combines the existing individual BAP habitat inventories into one national polygon layer. The objectives of the project were to:Address overlaps between the existing inventories, by identifying one main habitat per polygon.Improve the consistency with other data sources.Produce a layer that could more easily be updated.The Priority Habitats’ inventory was interpreted based on:Ordnance Survey MasterMap® (OSMM), polygonsused to capture the habitat boundaries.25 individual priority habitat inventories.ENSIS (Natural England’s SSSI database) & Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) management units. Data was extracted from ENSIS and attributed against the SSSI units. Information for each unit included main habitat, description, features and NVC codes.Farm Environment Plan (FEP), Rural Land Registry (RLR), & Higher Level Stewardship (HLS). FEP features & corresponding HLS management options were attributed against individual RLR parcels. FEP paper maps were not used.Contextual data included Coniferous Woodland, Moorland Line, OSMM descriptions.Aerial PhotographyOS MasterMap polygons have been used as the primary framework for mapping. However, because OSMM polygons in unenclosed areas provide a framework that is significantly coarser than the existing inventories, a process has been developed to enable OSMM polygons to be split against the existing habitat inventories when this added significantly to the resolution of mapping.Using all data inputs, a set of criteria were implemented to identify candidate main and additional habitats for each OSMM [or split OSMM] polygon. A series of rules were then applied to determine the most likely candidate for main habitat. The rules are set out in full in the supporting user guide.Criteria for a habitat to be mapped as main habitat (Main_habitat) were as follows:Habitat inventories with an extent ≥50% of OSMM [or split OSMM] polygon (PHI>50%)Higher Level Stewardship option/FEP feature combinations where the estimated feature extent ≥50% of OSMM [or split OSMM] polygon (FEP + HLS)SSSI Unit extent ≥50% of OSMM [or split OSMM] polygon with corresponding Level 1 and Level 2 features (ENSIS L1)The rules for eliminating or separating candidates for main habitats were as follows:1/1b. MasterMap description11c ENSIS description1d. NVC/HLS options2. Coniferous woodland3. Moorland boundary4. Max number of sources5. ‘Definitely is’6. NVC type7a. PHI fit + FEP/ENSIS 7b. FEP fit + PHI/ENSIS7c. SSSI fit + PHI/FEP8. Inventory Confidence9. MasterMap description10. Source Confidence(1Candidates incompatible with the MasterMap description completely excluded)For each inventory polygon, candidates for additional habitats were identified using the following tests:Discarded main habitat candidatesExisting coverage at <50% of polygon (PHI < 50%)FEP features not included as candidate for main habitat (FEP < 50%)ENSIS Level 2 feature with no corresponding LI feature (ENSIS L2)Candidate additional habitats were then removed on the basis of:A1. MasterMap DescriptionA2. Moorland BoundaryOutcome habitats for the Single Habitat Layer were:Blanket bog (BLBOG)Calaminarian grassland (CALAM)Coastal & floodplain grazing marsh (CFPGM)Coastal sand dunes (CSDUN)Coastal vegetated shingle (CVSHI)Deciduous woodland (DWOOD)Fragmented heath2(FHEAT)Grass Moorland2(GMOOR)Good quality semi-improved grassland2(GQSIG)Limestone pavements (LPAVE)Lowland calcareous grassland (LCGRA)Lowland dry acid grassland (LDAGR)Lowland fens (LFENS)Lowland heathland (LHEAT)Lowland meadows (LMEAD)Lowland raised bog (LRBOG)Maritime cliff & slope (MCSLP)Mountain heath & willow scrub (MHWSC)Mudflats (MUDFL)Purple moor grass & rush pastures (PMGRP)Reedbeds (RBEDS)Saline lagoons (SLAGO)Coastal saltmarsh (SALTM)Traditional orchards (TORCH)Upland calcareous grassland (UCGRA)Upland hay meadows (UHMEA)Upland heathland (UHEAT)Upland flushes, fens & swamps (UFFSW)(2Not a priority habitat)Where candidate habitats remain but no main habitat can be identified the whole polygon is mapped as ‘No main habitat but additional habitats’ and the priority habitats thought to be present are shown within the attribution as additional habitats. This may occur when:There are main habitat candidates but they are rejected based on the MasterMap description, e.g. lowland heathland under coniferous woodland.Inventory polygons intersecting the OSMM polygon fall below the minimum mapping unit (0.25ha)FEP features without corresponding HLS options or with the feature covering less than half the OSMM [or split polygon OSMM] polygonWhere no SSSI L2 feature corresponds with the L1 feature.Attribution:The attribution provides supporting evidence for the mapping within each polygon, and an audit trail explaining how the rules have driven the outcome.Main_habitat: Main priority habitat identified for the polygon, e.g. Lowland meadowsConfidence:High= Corresponding NVC data andHLS optionsMedium= Either corresponding NVC data or HLS optionsLow= All other polygonsSourcesEach polygon may have up to three sources for the main habitat which are attributed in the following priority:Inventory sourcesFEP + HLS sourcesAerial photographyENSIS featuresBase mappingEach source has the following fields:Source[n]: Title of source, e.g. North Pennines Digital NVC Survey.S[n]Date: Reference date of source, e.g. 01/01/2001S[n]HabClass: Habitat classification of the source, e.g. National Vegetation ClassificationS[n]HabType: Habitat type of the source, e.g. M19 H9BaseMapping: The base map scale, e.g. 1:10000or OS MasterMapAnnex_1: EU Habitats Directive (1992) Annex 1 habitats attributed based on correspondence with NVC data or where attributed in the inventories, e.g.Active blanket bogs (H7130)Add_habits: Additional habitats that may be present, but that were not identified as the main habitat for the polygon. e.g. BGS DiGMapGB-50 Superficial deposits = peat (Blanket bog) (2008); SSSI features: M4-6; U2-U6; Blanket bog and valley bog (upland); FEP features: M06: Blanket bogCandidates: Habitats identified as candidates for main or additional habitats. e.g. Main habitat: CFPGM (PHI > 50%), LMEAD (PHI > 50%, ENSIS L1), Additional: PMGRP (ENSIS L2 only)Rule_Decis:Outcome of rules used to separate candidates for main or additional habitats, e.g. Tests failed: 6.NVC type (CFPGM)GenComment: Determination comment for main habitat from the original habitat inventory.LastModDat: Parcel last modified date (including for manual updates)ModReason: Reason for last modification for manual corrections.Changes from previous versionThe most significant change from version 1.0 of the Priority Habitats’ Inventory (released June 2013) is the splitting of MasterMap polygons. MasterMap polygons have been split against all of the input habitat inventories (excluding coastal and floodplain grazing marsh) where this would not create a new polygon above the minimum mapping unit of 0.25ha.The criteria for identifying main habitats has been tightened. For FEP and HLS data the estimated feature area must be equivalent to half of the OSMM [or split OSMM] polygon. For ENSIS data, the Level 2 features must now correspond with the Level 1 feature descriptions, which have been manually validated.The confidence of the sources is now taken into account in attributing the main habitats. Inventory sources are now prioritised over FEP + HLS and ENSIS data. Inventory polygons of high confidence (e.g. ‘Definitely is’) are prioritised over those of low confidence (e.g. ‘data insufficient’).The attribution has been updated so that it is now closer to that of the original inventories, whilst standardising the attribution and continuing to provide an audit trail for how the main habitat was determined. The following additional datasets have been incorporated in this version:Environment Agency Coastal saltmarsh inventoryPeak District National Park Authority lowland meadows survey dataPeak District Dales Alkaline Fens SAC 2003Upper Teesdale (upland hay meadows)Updates ENSIS data Updates to FEP and HLS data Manual changes have been made to 3660 polygons comprising 11,603 ha. These are primarily:Separation of upland and lowland heathland, based on the Severely Disadvantaged Area boundary and 300m contour.Checking of maritime cliffs and slope areas against aerial photography and contour data.Incorporating new data from Natural England advisers’ field visits.Total number of polygons: 859570Overall area: 2,334,916 haFor further information, please see HS2-NEG-EV-GDE-000-000011Last Modified by Natural England 16th January 2015 (Downloaded 18th February 2015)

Service Item Id: f62008018e9b44278627bb2631f503a0

Copyright Text: Natural England.

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Supported Query Formats: JSON, geoJSON, PBF

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