Land cover change in Scotland
Considerable changes have taken place within Scotland’s towns and countryside since the 1940s. Urban expansion, road development and afforestation were among the more striking. Changes in the structure of farmland, or in the extent and condition of moorland, may have been less obvious. Yet they have been no less relevant to the visual appearance of the countryside, to its wildlife, and to the quality of experience for outdoor recreation and enjoyment.Scottish Natural Heritage has been closely involved in two major studies of land cover change in Scotland.
1947 – 1988: The National Countryside Monitoring Scheme
The National Countryside Monitoring Scheme (NCMS) is a sample survey that quantifies land cover change in Scotland from aerial photography captured around 1947, 1973 and 1988.
View an summary of the NCMS and its findings online here. A full account can be found in the book Land cover change: Scotland from the 1940s to the 1980s which is available from The Stationery Office.
A CD-ROM is also available that provides full access to the NCMS dataset.
Technical detail of the NCMS can be found in the NCMS Methodology
(2.1Mb) and the NCMS accuracy assessment
1990 – 1998: Countryside Survey 2000
Countryside Survey 2000 (CS2000) is a major audit of the British countryside. It comprises a sample survey of detailed field observations and a complete land cover census for Great Britain and Northern Ireland based on interpreted satellite imagery.
1998 - 2007: Countryside Survey 2007
Further information, including UK results from the field survey, are available on the CS2000 web site. A more detailed account of the results for Scotland can be found in the SNH commissioned report Trends in Broad Habitats: Scotland 1990-1998