Great Crested Newt Risk Zones for South and East Yorkshire

Natural England's 2020 dataset categorizes areas in South and East Yorkshire by risk to great crested newt populations. It defines four zones—red, amber, green, and white—based on species occurrence and the likely impact of development. The data integrates multiple sources including land cover mapping, soils data, and ecological records from several regional trusts and centers.

Use Cases

• Prioritizing conservation efforts based on the red zone designation for key populations on a regional, national, or international scale.
• Assessing habitat connectivity for natural dispersal based on the amber zone classification of main population centers.
• Informing low-impact development planning in green zones where great crested newts are sparsely distributed.
• Identifying areas with confirmed absence of the species for certain planning purposes based on the rare white zone classification.

Strengths

• Defines four distinct risk categories (red, amber, green, white) with clear ecological criteria described in the metadata.
• Integrates data from multiple authoritative sources including Natural England, Ordnance Survey, and several ecological data centers.
• Specifically covers the South and East Yorkshire geography for local planning relevance.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for large-scale statistical modeling.
• Last updated 2026-07-13 13:01:32.726619; freshness should be verified against more recent ecological surveys.

Provenance

Source

Natural England, with contributions from Ordnance Survey, Cranfield University, Freshwater Habitats Trust, and several regional wildlife trusts and ecological data centers.

Collection Method

Likely synthesized from field surveys, land cover mapping (LCM2015, LCM2007), soils data, and ecological monitoring schemes.

Time Range

Primary dataset dated 2020, incorporating source data from 2007 to 2021.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-07-13 13:01:32.726619

Geography

South and East Yorkshire, England.