GCER news and happenings

After a long process of data collation, consultation workshops, mapping and ecological modelling, the many map layers required for the Local Nature Recovery Strategy have been brought together. Using an embedded ArcGIS Online Local Habitat Map designed and mapped by GCER and the Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust Evidence Team, Gloucestershire County Council have launched the final, approved LNRS website here.

The website links to our embedded Local Habitat Map, plus lots of useful documentation including detailed descriptions of habitats and the potential measures for restoring nature throughout the county. GCER's next role in the LNRS process is to contribute to the monitoring and assessment of how the LNRS progresses and, hopefully, achieves its aims for the future of Gloucestershire's biodiversity.

The process of checking old county maps - going back to tithe mapping from the 1800s - and comparing with modern Ordnance Survey and aerial photography has taken four years! Hundreds of thousands of land parcels with older and current woodland habitat cover have been compared, checked and checked again against a complex set of Natural England guidelines.

GCER would like to thank all the volunteers who have helped with the process, and of course our dedicated GIS officers who spent many hours poring over old and new maps to ensure that no records of potential ancient woodland were missed.

Our submitted updates were checked by Natural England and approved for publication. Revised Ancient Woodland map layers for the counties which have completed their inventory updates are all now available for viewing and download on the Natural England geo data portal.

In 2020 GCER published the Natural Capital Mapping Project website, a map viewer showing the first set of Nature Recovery maps for Gloucestershire, plus other useful reference maps. Gloucestershire Local Nature Partnership commissioned the site as a showcase for the precursors to Gloucestershire's Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS) maps.

Now that the process of building the LNRS is almost complete, several new and updated maps have been updated on the Natural Capital Mapping Project website, including the 2025 version of Gloucestershire's Nature Recovery Network. Check out the latest updates.

The updating of the Ancient Woodland Inventory in Gloucestershire is entering its second main phase: comparing current and early Ordnance Survey maps with older map sources and other useful information such as recent habitat survey. This will be keeping James occupied whilst Molly and Linda concentrate on Local Nature Recovery Strategy mapping - not just for Gloucestershire but also for Worcestershire and Herefordshire. Tina, in addition to the usual deluge of data searches for consultants and others, will be looking further into the species element of the the LNRS work.

Other projects for this year, in addition to the usual core GCER work, include mapping for Eelscapes, assisting other GWT staff with farm maps, managing the annual Garden Bird Survey and updating the Natural Capital Mapping Project website.