Great Crested Newt Risk Zones for Cambridgeshire with Habitat Impact Categories

Natural England's 2020 dataset categorizes areas in Cambridgeshire by the distribution of great crested newts and the likely impact of development. It defines four risk zones—red, amber, green, and white—based on population importance and habitat connectivity. The data incorporates information from multiple environmental sources, including the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology and the Freshwater Habitats Trust.

Use Cases

• Prioritize conservation efforts based on the defined red zones containing regionally or nationally important great crested newt populations.
• Assess development proposals by identifying amber zones that contain main population centers and important connecting habitat.
• Model species dispersal pathways using the classification of green zones containing sparsely distributed newts.
• Inform strategic land-use planning by identifying rare white zones where great crested newts are confirmed absent.

Strengths

• Defines four specific risk categories (red, amber, green, white) with clear ecological criteria described in the metadata.
• Aggregates data from multiple authoritative sources, including Natural England, the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, and the Freshwater Habitats Trust.
• Provides a structured framework for impact assessment related to a legally protected species.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count and spatial resolution are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to its focus on Cambridgeshire, England.

Provenance

Source

Natural England, with contributions from the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Environmental Records Centre, Freshwater Habitats Trust, and others.

Collection Method

Likely synthesized from species distribution surveys, habitat mapping, and expert assessment.

Time Range

Attribution year is 2020, with underlying data from sources dated between 2007 and 2020.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-07-13 13:01:09.948329; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Cambridgeshire, England.