Information and Advisory Note Number 32 Back to menu
1.1 Observed reductions in the extent of
semi-natural habitats in Great Britain led to
growing concern in the 1970s and 1980s.
Such changes were associated with fiscal and
strategic policies aimed at increasing
agricultural productivity and the nation's
timber reserves. Intensified husbandry and
improvements in farming and forestry
technology had a substantial impact on rural
land management, often in ways which
appeared detrimental to landscapes and
wildlife.
1.2 The passing of the 1981 Wildlife and ' Countryside Act, and the debate which
this engendered, focused attention on the need for quantitative data on
countryside change to inform environmental policy
1.3 The National Countryside Monitoring Scheme (NCMS) is a retrospective study of
land cover change throughout Scotland from the late 1940s.
1.4 The study was initiated in 1983 by the Nature Conservancy Council, when it was
piloted in Cumbria. It was fully implemented in 1986 as a national survey of
land cover change, commencing in Grampian Region, and from then onwards the
project has focused on Scotland Since 1992 the NCMS has been administered by
Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH). It is scheduled for completion in 1996.
2.1 The National Countryside Monitoring Scheme is a sample study which has mapped
7.5% of the land area of Scotland for three time periods. It is from this sample
that regional estimates of land cover and land cover change are calculated, and
for Scotland as a whole.
2.2 Aerial photographs provide a record of land cover for the late 1940s when most
of Scotland was flown by the Royal Air Force. A similar series of air photo
surveys was flown by the Ordnance Survey (OS) in the early 1970s. Photography
for the late 1980s also became available from an aerial survey commissioned by
the Scottish Office.
2.3 The statistical methodology was based on a stratified random sample within
each administrative region, as mapped in 1984. Stratification within each region
was performed by means of a classification of Landsat multi-spectral scanner
imagery. Typically this produced a lowland, upland and intermediate class, with
an urban class where appropriate.
2.4 A10% sample by area within each regional stratum was obtained by randomly
selecting 5km-square sampling units (geometrically corrected to the National OS
Grid). Where squares contained coastline, or where they fell on a regional
boundary, the external area would be excluded.
2.5 in 1988 the statistical design was reassessed in the light of experience in
six regions. This allowed the sample square size to be reduced to 2.5 x 2.5km,
with a minimum of 5 squares to be selected in each stratum. The overall result
is a 7.5% sample coverage of Scotland's land area.
2.6 For each sample square the relevant 1:10,000 scale OS sheet served as a base
map, over which a transparent film was overlaid for mapping NCMS features.
Mirror stereoscopes could be used in the air-photo interpretation of lowland
squares, where topographic detail was shown on the maps. Boundaries of land
cover were drawn directly onto the transparency together with associated
identity codes, in upland squares where land cover tended towards less
distinguishable complex mosaics, and where there was an absence of reference
detail on the base maps, it was necessary to use a Kern PG2 photogrammetric
plotting machine to map boundaries.
2.7 In the NCMS method, the minimum mappable area is 0.1 ha and the minimum
mappable length is 30m. The classification
includes 31 area features and five linear features.
2.8 Interpretation difficulties arise from variable quality aerial photography,
at scales ranging from 1:10,000 to 1:30,000. Field checking was carried out
where there was uncertainty in the aerial photo interpretation. A more
comprehensive and independent accuracy assessment will be available with the
publication of the final results in 1996.
2.9 The completed land cover maps were digitised and processed on a Geographical
Information System (GIS). The data were validated to check for and correct any
missing linework or erroneous codes. Because of technological constraints in the
early GIS configuration, vector datasets were rasterised into 10m grid cells for
processing.
2.10 There are three layers' of data for each sample square, corresponding to each
of the three time periods. Any two of the three matrices can be overlaid
electronically to determine land cover change.
2.11 The number of 10m cells, or pixels, for each land cover type are held in a
Series of comparison files for each sample square. Land cover differences,
represented by non-corresponding pixels, are similarly held.
2.12 After technical editing, the GIS output files for each region were input into
a statistical package. Estimates of area and length were produced, together with
change within, and interchange between, features. Standard errors were
calculated from which confidence intervals were produced.
2.13 The project was designed to identify changes of 10%-or-more in the spatial
extent of features with 95% confidence.
2.14 During the course of the study there will have been a migration across three
GIS hardware-software platforms. The first phase of the NCMS, which compared
change between the late 1940s and the.mid-1970s, was undertaken with
custom-built GIS software running on stand-alone desk-top personal computers
with concurrent CP/M operating systems. In 1992 the project upgraded to an
Intergraph workstation environment, with its improved performance partly
constrained by the requirement for downward compatibility with its predecessor
system. The full vector dataset is being made available on the SNH corporate
network, within an Arclnfo-based workstation environment.
1 NCMS results can be generated for each sample square, with the possibility of
464 case studies throughout Scotland.
2 Published regional and national results describe the dynamics of Scotland's
changing countryside over the past fifty-or-so years. Results have helped to
inform environmental policies to conserve and enhance the natural heritage of
Scotland.
NCMS reports describing 1940s-1970s results for the following regions can be
obtained from SNH Publications Section: Grampian, Borders, Lothian, Dumfries &
Galloway, Northern Isles, Central, Fife, Tayside, Highland, Strathclyde and the
Western Isles.
Tudor, G.J., Mackey, E.C and Underwood, F.M. (1994a). The National Countryside
Monitoring Scheme, the changing face of Scotland 1940s to 1970s. Main Report
Scottish Natural Heritage, Perth.
Tudor, G.J., Mackey, E.C. and Underwood, F.M. (1994b). The National Countryside
Monitoring Scheme, the changing face of Scotland 1940s to 1970s. Technical
Report. Scottish Natural Heritage, Perth.
Dr Gavin Tudor, National Countryside Monitoring Scheme - Project Manager
Ed Mackey
Environmental Audit Branch
Research and Advisory Services Directorate
Scottish Natural Heritage
2 Anderson Place
Edinburgh
EH6 5NP
Tel: 0131-447 4784