Great Crested Newt Risk Zones for North East England, 2021

Natural England's 2021 dataset categorizes land in Northumberland, Durham, Tyne & Wear, and Tees Valley into four risk zones for great crested newt conservation. Red zones contain regionally or nationally important populations, including designated Sites of Special Scientific Interest, while amber and green zones represent main population centers and sparse distributions, respectively. The data is derived from multiple sources including land cover maps, Ordnance Survey data, and freshwater habitat monitoring.

Use Cases

• Prioritizing conservation efforts based on the red, amber, and green zone classifications for great crested newts.
• Conducting environmental impact assessments for development projects using the defined risk zones.
• Modeling habitat connectivity and dispersal pathways for great crested newts based on the described amber zone functions.
• Identifying areas of high ecological sensitivity by locating Sites of Special Scientific Interest within the red zones.

Strengths

• Clear, policy-relevant classification into four distinct risk zones (red, amber, green, white) based on described ecological criteria.
• Compiled from multiple authoritative sources including Natural England, Ordnance Survey, and the Freshwater Habitats Trust.

Limitations

• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

Natural England

Collection Method

Likely compiled from field surveys, land cover mapping (LCM2015, LCM2007), and habitat monitoring schemes (PondNet).

Time Range

Data is based on sources from 2007 to 2021, with a 2021 attribution statement.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-07-13 13:01:39.984310; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Northumberland, Durham, Tyne & Wear, and Tees Valley in North East England.