Habitat Surveying

We are building up a comprehensive map of all habitat types for the whole of Wiltshire and Swindon, that is held in electronic format using a Geographical Information System (GIS) and will be used for similar purposes to our species records. Currently just over 50% of the County has been mapped, although some of the information is undoubtedly out of date, and so we would welcome any interested volunteers to assist in gathering more up to date and/or missing information.

Several methods of habitat surveying are in common use and the one chosen by us is called the Integrated Habitat System (IHS). Two other frequently used ones are Phase 1 Habitat Survey and the National Vegetation Classification system (NVC). Both IHS and NVC do require a fairly high degree of specific knowledge, but Phase 1 is relatively straightforward and is a good ‘starting point’, which can be easily translated into IHS by our staff. Phase 1 allows for classification of just over 100 habitat types which may sound daunting, but includes a number of habitats not found in Wiltshire, e.g. sand dunes, saltmarsh etc.

Phase 1 uses three different codes to identify habitats: colour coding, hierarchical alphanumeric coding and lettered coding. Some examples:

In practice it usually easier to use the lettered code and this is, in most cases, meaningful and therefore easier to remember.

Basic training in Phase 1 can be given to interested volunteers together with outline maps for reference and recording habitat types onto.

Recommended Reading

Handbook for Phase 1 habitat survey, Nature Conservancy Council, 1990. ISBN 0-86139-636-7. This handbook can be difficult to obtain, but your local library should be able to obtain a loan copy. Alternatively a PDF version can be downloaded from the following JNCC website

Use the email form below to contact us if you are interested in becoming a habitat surveyor, or phone Tony Coultiss on 01380 725670 ext:255