NICS Timetable

• full land cover survey 2007
• data collation, analysis and preparation of summary reports late 2008 – mid/late2009
• further detailed vegetation survey 2009
• analysis late 2009-2010
• delivery of secure datasets 2009/2010
• post project review and preparation for NICS2017, 2011 onwards

NICS2007 results are published. Analysis is ongoing on boundaries and habitat condition data. Initial exploration of the more detailed quadrat data has begun.

Publication of "Broad Habitat change in Northern Ireland" being finalised.

Further, more detailed, field work is carried out to investigate species composition of Northern Ireland woodlands. In addition, grassland habitats are being investigated and some upland semi-natural habitats to repeat work carried out in the early 90s.

Work is completed on producing the Northern Ireland Broad Habitat results data to be incorporated into the UK report. Data analysis is ongoing with the aim of producing primary habitat data that will inform Broad Habitats results. In addition, the Northern Ireland Countryside Survey data is being worked on for incorporation into various national and local biodiversity reporting requirements. We hope to present the first Northern Ireland Countryside Survey 2007 report detailing habitat estimates and changes since 1998 , in early 2009.  Further field work is planned for 2009 and consequently final reports will be available in 2010.

The UK Countryside Survey results are published, combining data from Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Further analysis and additional fieldwork and reporting are necessary before the Northern Ireland results can be completed, this is planned for 2009.

An independent quality assurance exercise gives confidence to Northern Ireland Countryside Survey results.

An independent exercise to investigate the reliability of Northern Ireland Countryside Survey methods was carried out by Dr Bob Bunce (Alterra). This revealed that there were no significant issues and a high level of methodological consistency. The report detailing the results can be found at NICS QA report (.PDF 268Kb)

The results of the quality assurance exercise - in place to monitor the accuracy of the definition of habitats and boundaries during the study and, to compare these with those noted during the 1998 survey - will be published on the NIEA website.