Living England Grasslands National Field Survey

Natural England leads on both the development of the Living England model (NCEA Project 1.1) and 25 YEP indicator D1 on habitat quantity, quality, and connectivity (which it is proposed will be the basis for the Environment Bill wider habitats target). The use of remote sensing satellite data to measure and monitor the location and change in habitats is a developing area of work. Developing its capacity to detect change is critical for assessing ecosystem extent over time and change in natural capital ecosystem assets.

Living England produces a map of broad habitat classifications for the whole of England based on up-to date satellite imagery and a collection of ancillary data layers including elevation (and derivatives such as slope, height above nearest drainage), proximity to various features (e.g., woodland, moorland, surface water, roads) and climatic variables. This is carried out by first splitting up England into 14 Biogeographic Zones, based on National Character Areas, which are distinctive areas each with unique environmental conditions. Recent satellite imagery is then identified for each biogeographic zone, which aims to use as cloud-free imagery as possible to create spring and autumn mosaics. A segmentation process is then applied to identify parcels of land with similar appearances in the imagery - forming a series of polygons using an object-based image analysis framework (OBIA). The polygons are then classified using a random forest, machine learning algorithm to identify the likely broad habitat present, informed by the field collected habitat records, satellite imagery and the ancillary datasets. The resulting map is a habitat probability map showing the likely broad habitat class for each polygon, creating a national picture of our natural capital assets. Living England 2022-2023 was published under an Open Government Licence in 2024 and can be accessed here Natural England Open Data GeoPortal: Living England 2022-2023