Great Crested Newt Risk Zones for Swindon and Wiltshire

Natural England's 2022 dataset categorizes areas in Swindon and Wiltshire into four risk zones for great crested newt conservation. Red zones contain key populations on a regional, national, or international scale, including designated Sites of Special Scientific Interest. The data is derived from multiple sources including land cover maps, Ordnance Survey data, and local council and environmental trust inputs.

Use Cases

• Prioritizing conservation areas based on the red, amber, green, and white zone classifications described in the dataset.
• Assessing potential development impacts on great crested newt populations using the defined risk zones.
• Informing habitat connectivity planning based on the description of amber zones containing important connecting habitat.
• Supporting environmental impact assessments for planning applications within the specified geographic area.

Strengths

• Provides a clear four-tier risk classification (red, amber, green, white) for conservation planning.
• Integrates data from multiple authoritative sources including Natural England, Ordnance Survey, and local councils.
• Explicitly identifies areas containing designated Sites of Special Scientific Interest for great crested newts.

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 the Swindon and Wiltshire area.

Provenance

Source

Natural England, with data from NERC (CEH), Ordnance Survey, Swindon Borough Council, Wiltshire Council, and Freshwater Habitats Trust.

Collection Method

Likely synthesized from land cover mapping (LCM2015, LCM2007), species monitoring (PondNet), and local authority data.

Time Range

Attribution year is 2022, with source data ranging from 2007 to 2020.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-07-13 13:01:34.094579; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Swindon and Wiltshire, England.