Extent and condition of priority habitats
Updated 18 February 2025
Applies to England
© Crown copyright 2025
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/england-biodiversity-indicators/2a-extent-and-condition-of-priority-habitats
Last updated: February 2025
Latest data available: 2024
Note
In October 2023, Natural England and Defra identified a data licensing issue with the priority habitat inventory used to calculate the England Biodiversity Indicator: Extent and condition of priority habitats, which resulted in the indicator publication using unlicensed data. Both Natural England and Defra have worked closely together to resolve this issue and manage minor changes in other data sources spanning the historical timeseries, which took longer than expected due to the complexities of the data sources and data licensing. This issue has now been resolved and the data feeding into this part of the indicator has now been corrected. Discussion of the impact this has had on the indicator can be found below.
Introduction
There are 56 habitats recognised as being of ‘principal importance’ for the conservation of biological diversity in England under section 41 of the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006. Priority habitats are a focus for conservation action in England.
The first part of this indicator (Part A) shows the extent of 27 priority terrestrial and coastal habitat types across England in 2024.
The second part of this indicator (Part B) shows the condition of 27 priority habitats. The measure outlines the percentage area of priority habitats in favourable condition (including those under Environmental Stewardship ‘Higher level’ or Countryside Stewardship agreements and those falling within Forestry Commission ‘Managed woodland’); unfavourable recovering condition; unfavourable, no change or declining condition; and those that are neither Sites of Special Scientific Interest nor under alternative agreements or management, and therefore their condition is unknown. Detail on how condition is assessed on SSSIs is given in the Guidance note: Sites of special scientific interest: managing your land: SSSI condition and assessment.
Data for this indicator can be found in the published datafile.
Type of indicator
Part A: Extent of priority habitats - State indicator
Part B: Condition of priority habitats - State indicator
Type of official statistics
Official statistic
Assessment of change
Assessment of change in extent and condition of priority habitats:
| Measure | Assessment | Time period | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Part B - Condition of priority habitats | Long term | 2015 to 2024 | Not assessed due to insufficient data points for long-term trend |
| Part B - Condition of priority habitats | Short term | 2019 to 2024 | Deteriorating |
Notes on the indicator assessment
The measure for extent (Part A) cannot be assessed. The priority habitats’ inventories do not allow for assessing changes to the extent of habitats, as changes to the inventories itself would represent improvements in current knowledge of the extent of priority habitats, rather than actual changes in the extent of those habitats.
The condition measure (Part B) does not have enough consecutive years of data to enable a long-term assessment of change.
The assessment is based on priority habitats which are in SSSIs and are in a favourable or unfavourable recovering condition or they fall outside of SSSIs but are in favourable management.
The short-term assessment of the condition measure is based on a 3% rule of thumb. The base year for this assessment uses a 3-year average. See document on assessing indicators
Key results
A) Extent of priority habitats
There are 1.86 million hectares of terrestrial and coastal priority habitats recorded in version 3 December 2023 priority habitats’ inventory for England. These habitats represent around 14% of the total land area of the country (Figure 1) but it is not currently possible to assess the extent to which this area changes from year to year (see the technical annex below for further details).
For the 27 main habitat types, deciduous woodland accounts for around 41% of the total priority habitats resource in England. Blanket bog and upland heath each account for around 13%, while coastal and floodplain grazing marsh make up around 12%. Rarer habitats, such as traditional orchards, ponds, and limestone pavements, together constitute 1% of the total resource.
Priority habitats can be designated as protected areas within Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs). Those which fall outside of SSSIs may be managed appropriately under Environmental Stewardship Scheme (ESS) ‘Higher level’ or Countryside Stewardship Scheme (CSS) agreements or fall within Forestry Commission (FC) ‘Managed woodland’. Some priority habitats, however, fall outside of the protection of all these schemes. The designated site network of SSSIs makes up 39% of the total priority habitat area in England (see indicator ‘Extent and condition of protected areas’ for further details).
Figure 1: Distribution of terrestrial and coastal priority habitats (in green) in England, 2024
Source: Natural England
Notes about Figure 1
- Green on the map denotes the extent of priority habitat in England for the PHI December 2023.
- Crown copyright and database rights 2025, Ordnance Survey 100022021.
B) Condition of priority habitats
When we refer to ‘appropriate management,’ we mean land that is either: (1) within SSSIs and in a favourable condition, (2) within SSSIs and in an unfavourable but recovering condition, or (3) outside of SSSIs but under favourable management (under Environmental Stewardship Scheme (ESS) ‘Higher level’ or Countryside Stewardship Scheme (CSS) agreements or fall within Forestry Commission (FC) ‘Managed woodland’).
As of 1 April 2024, almost 1.06 million hectares of priority habitats were in ‘appropriate management’. This equates to 57% of all priority habitats in ‘appropriate management’ (Figure 2).
Around a third (33%) of all priority habitats were in SSSIs in a favourable or unfavourable recovering condition. Outside of SSSIs 25% are in favourable management (that is, they are under ESS higher level or CSS agreements or fall within FC managed woodland) (Figure 2). Since 2015, there has been a 9.1% decrease in the area of priority habitat in favourable or unfavorable recovering condition (from 1.17 million hectares in 2015 to 1.06 million hectares in 2024). In the short term, the area of priority habitats in favourable or unfavorable recovering condition has decreased by 9.8% from a figure of 1.18 million hectares in 2019 to 1.06 million hectares in 2024.
Out of the 27 main habitat types for 2024, there were 2 main habitat types which were assessed as 80% or more in ‘appropriate management’: lakes at 92% and coastal saltmarsh at 84%. Both habitat types are small in terms of the area contributing to total priority habitats.
Deciduous woodland, blanket bog, upland heathland, and coastal and floodplain grazing are the main habitat types contributing to the total priority habitat area. The percentages of these habitat types in ‘appropriate management’ were upland heathland at 72%, blanket bog at 67%, deciduous woodland at 52%, and ‘coastal and floodplain grazing’ at 36%.
For further detail on all priority habitat types see the accompanying data set.
Figure 2: Condition of priority habitat as a percentage of total area, in England, 2015 to 2024
Source: Natural England
Note about Figure 2
- Appropriate mananagement relates to categories ‘SSSI favourable’, SSSI unfavourable recovering’, and ‘Outside SSSI but in favourable management’.
This indicator was last published in 2021, and used a static version of the priority habitats inventory (PHI) to calculate all annual indicator updates. The current indicator uses a version of the PHI contemporary to the year being assessed, of which there are 5 versions (see Table 2 below for more information) which have been used to recalculate the timeseries from 2015 to 2024. The extent data in these inventories cannot be compared because each successive version of the inventory represents an evolution on our ability to measure the extent of priority habitat. Therefore, due to insufficient comparable data, it is not possible to assess long-term trends in the extent of priority habitat.
The impact of using the appropriate version of the PHI to calculate the priority habitat datasets has resulted in the ‘total priority habitat area’ decreasing between 0.08 and 0.10 million hectares, from what was previously published in the 2021 annual update of the indicator. For instance, in 2021 the total area of priority habitat was estimated to be 1.87 million hectares. Using the correct PHI, this has been revised down to 1.79 million hectares. The percentage of habitats in favourable, unfavourable recovering, or outside SSSI but in favourable management condition in 2021 has been revised from 65.6% to 66.1%.
In 2024, 36% of priority habitat fell outside of SSSIs and are not under ESS higher level or CSS agreements or within FC managed woodland. This slight increase most likely reflects changes in agri-environment scheme participation or woodland management.
Further Detail
For further details about the extent and condition of priority habitats, see the Technical Annex below.
Relevance
There are 56 habitats recognised as of ‘principal importance’ for the conservation of biological diversity in England under section 41 of the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006.
Web links for further information
- The National Forestry Inventory on the Forest Research website
- UK Priority Habitats on the JNCC website
- Common Standards Monitoring Programme on the JNCC website
- Common Standards Monitoring Guidance on the JNCC website
- Natural England’s website on Habitats of ‘principal importance’ for the conservation of biological diversity in England
- River and lake information and maps on Natural England’s website
Acknowledgements
Thank you to the many people who have contributed by providing data and to the many colleagues who have helped produce this indicator.
Technical Annex
Background to extent of priority habitats
In order to create the annual priority habitats datasets; scheme data (that is ESS ‘higher level’, CSS, and FC ‘managed woodland), data for the PHI, and SSSI condition data are brought together and processed. During this process, where there are overlaps which would cause double-counting, these are removed. Where there are overlapping SSSI units with different SSSI condition, these will be double-counted. These overlaps occur where there are overlapping SSSI units that do not have the same condition assessment and equates to around 500 to 800 hectares of overlaps.
Table 1: The 66 priority habitats that are mapped into the 2024 single habitats’ inventory for England
| Main habitat type | Priority habitat type |
|---|---|
| Blanket bog | Blanket bog |
| Blanket bog | Blanket bog,Deciduous woodland |
| Calaminarian grassland | Calaminarian grassland |
| Coastal and floodplain grazing marsh | Coastal and floodplain grazing marsh |
| Coastal and floodplain grazing marsh | Coastal and floodplain grazing marsh,Coastal saltmarsh |
| Coastal and floodplain grazing marsh | Coastal and floodplain grazing marsh,Lowland meadows |
| Coastal and floodplain grazing marsh | Coastal and floodplain grazing marsh,Maritime cliff and slope |
| Coastal saltmarsh | Coastal saltmarsh |
| Coastal saltmarsh | Coastal saltmarsh,Saline lagoons |
| Coastal sand dunes | Coastal sand dunes |
| Coastal sand dunes | Coastal sand dunes,Coastal vegetated shingle |
| Coastal sand dunes | Coastal sand dunes,Deciduous woodland |
| Coastal sand dunes | Coastal sand dunes,Lowland calcareous grassland |
| Coastal sand dunes | Coastal sand dunes,Lowland dry acid grassland |
| Coastal sand dunes | Coastal sand dunes,Lowland fens |
| Coastal sand dunes | Coastal sand dunes,Lowland heathland |
| Coastal sand dunes | Coastal sand dunes,Maritime cliff and slope |
| Coastal sand dunes | Coastal sand dunes,Reedbeds |
| Coastal vegetated shingle | Coastal vegetated shingle |
| Coastal vegetated shingle | Coastal vegetated shingle,Lowland dry acid grassland |
| Coastal vegetated shingle | Coastal vegetated shingle,Lowland heathland |
| Coastal vegetated shingle | Coastal vegetated shingle,Saline lagoons |
| Deciduous woodland | Deciduous woodland |
| Deciduous woodland | Deciduous woodland,Limestone pavement |
| Deciduous woodland | Deciduous woodland,Lowland raised bog |
| Deciduous woodland | Deciduous woodland,Maritime cliff and slope |
| Lakes | Lakes |
| Lakes | Lakes,Lowland fens |
| Lakes | Lakes,Lowland fens,Reedbeds |
| Lakes | Lakes,Reedbeds |
| Limestone pavement | Limestone pavement |
| Limestone pavement | Limestone pavement,Upland calcareous grassland |
| Lowland calcareous grassland | Lowland calcareous grassland |
| Lowland calcareous grassland | Lowland calcareous grassland,Limestone pavement |
| Lowland calcareous grassland | Lowland calcareous grassland,Maritime cliff and slope |
| Lowland dry acid grassland | Lowland dry acid grassland |
| Lowland dry acid grassland | Lowland dry acid grassland,Limestone pavement |
| Lowland dry acid grassland | Lowland dry acid grassland,Lowland heathland |
| Lowland dry acid grassland | Lowland dry acid grassland,Maritime cliff and slope |
| Lowland fens | Lowland fens |
| Lowland fens | Lowland fens,Maritime cliff and slope |
| Lowland fens | Lowland fens,Reedbeds |
| Lowland heathland | Lowland heathland |
| Lowland heathland | Lowland heathland,Maritime cliff and slope |
| Lowland meadows | Lowland meadows |
| Lowland meadows | Lowland meadows,Maritime cliff and slope |
| Lowland raised bog | Lowland raised bog |
| Maritime cliff and slope | Maritime cliff and slope |
| Maritime cliff and slope | Maritime cliff and slope,Coastal saltmarsh |
| Maritime cliff and slope | Maritime cliff and slope,Purple moor grass and rush pastures |
| Maritime cliff and slope | Maritime cliff and slope,Reedbeds |
| Mountain heaths and willow scrub | Mountain heaths and willow scrub |
| Mudflats | Mudflats |
| Ponds | Ponds |
| Ponds | Ponds,Reedbeds |
| Purple moor grass and rush pastures | Purple moor grass and rush pastures |
| Reedbeds | Reedbeds |
| Reedbeds | Reedbeds,Coastal saltmarsh |
| Reedbeds | Reedbeds,Upland flushes fens and swamps |
| Saline lagoons | Saline lagoons |
| Traditional orchards | Traditional orchard |
| Traditional orchards | Good quality semi improved grassland,Traditional orchard |
| Upland calcareous grassland | Upland calcareous grassland |
| Upland flushes fens and swamps | Upland flushes fens and swamps |
| Upland hay meadow | Upland hay meadow |
| Upland heathland | Upland heathland |
Source: Natural England
Table 2: Versions of priority habitats inventories used between 2015 and 2024 for England
| Year | Priority habitat inventory | Area of phi hectares | Number of phi habitats |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | PHIv2_0_December_2014 | 1771142 | 25 |
| 2016 | PHIv2_1_December_2015 | 1772670 | 25 |
| 2017 | PHIv2_1_December_2015 | 1772670 | 25 |
| 2018 | PHIv2_1_December_2015 | 1772670 | 25 |
| 2019 | PHIv2_1_December_2015 | 1772670 | 25 |
| 2020 | PHIv2_2_July_2019 | 1788378 | 25 |
| 2021 | PHIv2_3_October_2020 | 1791992 | 25 |
| 2022 | PHIv2_3_October_2020 | 1791992 | 25 |
| 2023 | PHIv2_3_October_2020 | 1791992 | 25 |
| 2024 | PHIv3_December_2023 | 1858653 | 66 |
Source: Natural England
Note about Table 2
- Where there are overlapping SSSI units with different SSSI condition, these will be double-counted. These overlaps occur where there are overlapping SSSI units that do not have the same condition assessment and equates to around 500 to 800 hectares of overlaps.
Background to condition of priority habitats
This indicator focuses on the condition of priority habitats and their individual contributions. The second part of the outcome on SSSIs is presented separately as part of the extent and condition of protected areas indicator ‘Extent and condition of protected areas’.
This indicator excludes four non-priority habitat types: ‘fragmented heath’, ‘good quality semi-improved grassland’, ‘grass moorland’, and ‘no main habitat but additional habitats present’. These are also excluded from the counts in tables 1 and 2 above.
From 2024, changes to the priority habitat inventory version 3 will be identified by the date of release rather than a minor version number. Version 3 introduced two new main habitats (Lakes and Ponds) and coincident habitat types, where more than one main priority habitat type exists at the same location. As of December 2023, version 3 includes 27 main habitats and 39 coincident habitats.
Due to these changes, direct comparison between individual habitats in versions 2 and 3 is not straightforward. Coincident habitat types in version 3 do not have a dominant type and cannot be disaggregated into the same habitat groups as in version 2.
In the revised indicator, there are only two situations where the method is habitat-dependent:
-
For Managed Woodland and Deciduous Woodland priority habitats, the analysis accounts for Deciduous Woodland as a main habitat and includes coincident habitats with Deciduous Woodland.
-
If a main habitat occurs with a non-priority habitat type as part of a coincident habitat group, that group is included in the analysis (as reflected in the table above). An example is Good quality semi-improved grassland and Traditional Orchard.
Natural England publishes the PHI, which is expected to be updated twice a year. Priority Habitats Inventory (England), Natural England Open Data Geoportal.
In previous versions of this indicator, a bar chart displayed the individual habitat types and the percentage of each habitat in target condition. As the Priority Habitat Inventory now captures more habitat types and coincident habitats, the data is in the accompanying data set.
Management types
Three management types are used in the analysis for this indicator to assess the condition of Priority Habitat.
- Agri-environment schemes
The revised indicator timeseries can only go back to 2015 as Rural Payments Agency have no Environmental Stewardship Scheme (ESS) data before this time. Countryside Stewardship Scheme (CSS) was introduced in 2016 and is first used in the indicator analysis for 2016.
For ESS only “higher” type scheme data is used. For CSS all scheme types are used.
Data was provided by the Rural Payments Agency to cover the periods 2015 to 2024. Natural England have split this data into schemes active at Financial Year end for the time period.
Rural Payments Agency publish the current ESS and CSS scheme data. Environmental Stewardship Scheme Agreements (England) Countryside Stewardship Scheme 2016 Management Areas (England)
- Forestry Commission Managed Woodland
The analysis uses Managed Woodland Headline Performance Indicator England 2021/22 from 2015 to 2021 and Woodland that is sustainably managed in England, 2023 from 2023 onwards. For 2024 at the time of analysis no data was available for 2024, so 2023 was used instead.
Although the name of this data has changed, it is part of the same time series. From 2023 the data is split by Managed Public and Managed Private but has always accounted for both. Forestry Commission England publish this data annually as one of their Key Performance Indicators.
Managed Woodland is only used to assess the condition of Deciduous Woodland priority habitat.
Managed Woodland data is published by the Forestry Commission, for example Sustainably Managed Woodland England - Headline Key Performance Indicator 31 March 2023, Forestry Commission.
- SSSI unit condition
This data covers the full time period 2015 to 2024. Natural England publish the current SSSI unit condition Sites of Special Scientific Interest Units (England).
Development plan
Since our previous publication we have adapted the language and visualisations used in this indicator. We are keen to hear from our users about these changes, as well as our published development plan, please email us.