This dataset contains Priority Habitat Surveys of individual sites (not Wales-wide coverage), focusing on terrestrial habitats listed under Section 7 of the Environment (Wales) Act 2016, known as Priority Habitats. It consists of detailed surveys of plant communities in mixed habitat context at a coarser scale than Phase 2 (National Vegetation Classification) habitat surveys.
The primary objective of these surveys is to identify and map areas of Priority Habitat of nature conservation importance, which can then feed into existing Wales-wide Priority Habitat extent and distribution data. The survey data can be used to identify areas of important habitat to inform schemes and projects such as woodland creation schemes, developments, or agricultural improvement, and can inform conservation management and restoration work to improve habitat condition and connectivity, and enhance biodiversity.
The dataset is not the product of a co-ordinated Survey Programme like the Lowland Peatland and Lowland Grassland Surveys of Wales, but is instead designed to be a single place to store ad-hoc site surveys of mixed Priority Habitat, under a common data structure, so they can be easily analysed and shared. Only surveys that have been extensively validated and verified by NRW vegetation and cartographic specialists will be added to the dataset.
This dataset is not to be confused with layer files derived from the ‘Environment (Wales) Act Section 7 Terrestrial Habitats of Principal Importance’ dataset, which is largely based on the Phase 1 Terrestrial Habitat Survey (1987-1997). These layer files are split into Wales-wide coverage for individual habitats, for example ‘Priority Habitat Blanket Bog.lyr.' See metadata NRW_DS122418 for more information.
Habitat composition may change over time, for example due to successional trends, land management or even planned developments. A record of a vegetation type or species in the digital data is therefore no guarantee of it still being extant on the ground. Individual site reports for most sites surveyed are also available upon request.
Only a redacted version of this data is available under the Open Government Licence and available for public use, see Limitation on Public Access and Use Constraints.
