Scotland's Earth Heritage and Landscape

Land Cover

Land Cover in Scotland extends from coast to mountain - from the built environment of towns and transportation networks, extending through and beyond the urban fringe to a varying scene of agricultural, forestry, recreational and sporting land - to the water bodies, both naturally formed and artificially created - and near natural vegetation in some of the remoter or less accessible places.

Monitoring changes in land cover in Scotland provides a wealth of valuable information about aspects of the natural heritage and helps inform future strategies and policies.

More detailed information about land cover is available in the National Countryside Monitoring Scheme series of publications and on this website, and in Advances Posters 4 and 5. These are available to order through our publications section.