Saltmarsh Survey of Great Britain

Salt marshes in Great Britain represent one of a series of habitats confined largely to the coastline. They usually develop on intertidal land within the range of the normal spring tides, where colonisation by halophytic plants i.e. plants which are adapted to high salinity is and able to withstand immersion in seawater, takes place. The extent of the saltmarsh also depends on the amount of sediment available for the position, together with a combination of physical factors such as degree of exposure, tidal range, and the slope of the land. Salt marsh communities may also be found in the splash same along clifftops. However the salt marsh types are not included in this project.

This dataset consists of inventories of sites and vegetation each the major coastal habitats Great Britain specifically salt marshes. Salt marshes were selected for the first study in this series for two reasons. At the time the habitat was rare and not well studied and was one of the most threatened of coastal habitats. Consequently the salt marsh survey of Great Britain was set up in 1981 with the following objectives:

1. To review existing information on the distribution and abundance of salt marshes Great Britain

2. To identify omissions in our knowledge of the resource as a whole; and,

3. To fill the gaps in order to increase our overall knowledge of the salt marsh resource and therefore to produce as complete as possible a description of the resource to a minimum standard.

Identifier: NRW_DS24303

Metadata Language: English

Lineage: The method employed for some men between phase I and phase II surveys, be more detailed than a phase 1 survey the vegetation types within a map, but not as detailed space to, since no contract records were taken. Many of the problems and assumptions implied in this project arise from this rather broad methodology which was, at the time, the minimum level which it was felt could provide meaningful data on a national. This project excluded inland salt marshes and splash signs on cliffs. Plant Community mapping categories were made of NVC communities amalgamated into blocks of vegetation which could easily be recognised in the field and were capable of being drawn rapidly and sketch maps.

There are no plans to computerise this data. Site forms included list of vegetation communities and tick boxes for other features.

The survey for Great Britain was commissioned by the Nature Conservancy Council which was replaced by the Countryside Agencies and JNCC in the 1990s. This paper dataset was split up and distributed to each of the Countryside Agencies. CCW took ownership of the Welsh reports and associated data which has now transferred to Natural Resources Wales (JNCC may also hold a copy of the collated data for Great Britain).

Additional Information: The seaward limit of the area surveyed may be identified as the lower limit higher plants and is fairly easily defined, although there may be some seasonal problems. Any survey work obviously takes place at one specific point in time and does not easy to judge how much of the area is within the tidal range and is therefore to be included in the definition of Saltmarsh. The reports are made up of a GB Report and 12 regional reports for Wales (per county)

Dataset Reference Date (Publication): 1989-12-31

Temporal Extent

Begin date: 1986-01-01

End date: 1989-12-31

Topic category

Biota

Owner

Natural Resources Wales (NRW) -

Maes-y-Ffynnon, Penrhosgarnedd, Bangor, Gwynedd, LL57 2DW, Wales

http://naturalresources.wales/?lang=en

Owner

Nature Conservancy Council (NCC) -

c/o Natural Resources Wales, Maes Y Ffynnon, Penrhosgarnedd, Bangor, LL57 2DW, Wales

http://naturalresourceswales.gov.uk/splash?orig=/

Originator

Various -

Enquiries Unit, Maes y Fynnon, Penrhosgarnedd, Bangor, Gwynedd, LL57 2DW

http://naturalresourceswales.gov.uk/splash?orig=/

Extent

Geographic Extent: Great Britain (GBN)

Vertical Extent

Medin Extent Keyword: benthic boundary layer

Format Type and Description

Documents ( )

Specification

Paper records/reports. (Phase 1)

Data quality

Quality Scope: Dataset

Conformity: Commission Regulation (EU) No 1089/2010 of 23 November 2010 implementing Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards interoperability of spatial data sets and services
Explanation: This dataset has not been assessed for conformance to the referenced INSPIRE regulation.
Degree: false

Lineage: The method employed for some men between phase I and phase II surveys, be more detailed than a phase 1 survey the vegetation types within a map, but not as detailed space to, since no contract records were taken. Many of the problems and assumptions implied in this project arise from this rather broad methodology which was, at the time, the minimum level which it was felt could provide meaningful data on a national. This project excluded inland salt marshes and splash signs on cliffs. Plant Community mapping categories were made of NVC communities amalgamated into blocks of vegetation which could easily be recognised in the field and were capable of being drawn rapidly and sketch maps.

There are no plans to computerise this data. Site forms included list of vegetation communities and tick boxes for other features.

The survey for Great Britain was commissioned by the Nature Conservancy Council which was replaced by the Countryside Agencies and JNCC in the 1990s. This paper dataset was split up and distributed to each of the Countryside Agencies. CCW took ownership of the Welsh reports and associated data which has now transferred to Natural Resources Wales (JNCC may also hold a copy of the collated data for Great Britain).

Keywords

GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0

Habitats and biotopes

Type: Theme

Citation

Date (Publication): 2008-06-01

Code: geonetwork.thesaurus.external.theme.httpinspireeceuropaeutheme-theme

Keywords

NRW Thesaurus

coastal vegetation
saltmarsh vegetation
vegetation surveys (vegetation monitoring)(see also biologicalsurveys)
plant communities
vegetation classification
saltmarsh (salt-marsh) (salt marsh)
vegetation (see also specific types eg.coastal or heathland vegetation and vegetation surveys)

Type: Theme

Citation

Date (Publication): 2026-08-27

Code: geonetwork.thesaurus.local.theme.converted_nrw-keywords

Keywords

SeaDataNet Parameter Discovery Vocabulary

Type: Theme

Citation

Date (Publication): 2024-06-19

Code: geonetwork.thesaurus.external.theme.rdf+xml

Code: British National Grid (EPSG::27700)

Content Information

NRW Profile

Custom Elements

NRW Related Title: The saltmarsh survey of Great Britain : an inventory of British saltmarshes

NRW Related Title: The saltmarsh survey of Great Britain : an inventory of British saltmarshes : regional supplement No.10 Dyfed Powys

NRW Related Title: The saltmarsh survey of Great Britain : an inventory of British saltmarshes : regional supplement No.11 South Wales

NRW Related Title: The saltmarsh survey of Great Britain : an inventory of British saltmarshes : regional supplement No.9 North Wales

NRW Related Title: Saltmarsh survey of Great Britain : Carmarthenshire

NRW Related Title: Saltmarsh survey of Great Britain : Ceredigion

NRW Related Title: Saltmarsh survey of Great Britain : Clwyd

NRW Related Title: Saltmarsh survey of Great Britain : east Gwynedd

NRW Related Title: Saltmarsh survey of Great Britain : Gwent

NRW Related Title: Saltmarsh survey of Great Britain : mid and south Glamorgan

NRW Related Title: Saltmarsh survey of Great Britain : Preseli and South Pembrokeshire

NRW Related Title: Saltmarsh survey of Great Britain : Preseli and South Pembrokeshire : county report

NRW Related Title: Saltmarsh survey of Great Britain : West Glamorgan and Llanelli

NRW Related Title: Saltmarsh survey of Great Britain : west Gwynedd

Constraints

Limitations on Public Access and Use

Restriction type: Other restrictions

Access Constraints Directive

Limitations: no limitations

Access Constraints Text

Other constraints: There are no access restrictions on this data. NRW may release, publish or disseminate it freely.

Use Constraints

Use constraints type: Other restrictions

Other constraints: © CNC/NRW Data may be re-used under the terms of the Open Government Licence providing it is done so, acknowledging both the source and NRW's copyright. It is the recipient's responsibility to ensure the data is fit for the intended purpose.

Attribution Statement

Other constraints: Please refer to the individual paper reports for the citations.

Licence

Other constraints: Open Government Licence

Metadata

File Identifier: 4f4c4942-4343-5764-6473-3234333033 XML

Metadata Language: English

Resource type: Dataset

Metadata Date: 2026-09-29T14:19:55.407Z

Metadata Standard Name: NRW

Metadata Standard Version: 1.0

pointOfContact

Natural Resources Wales (NRW) -

Maes-y-Ffynnon, Penrhosgarnedd, Bangor, Gwynedd, LL57 2DW, Wales

http://naturalresources.wales/?lang=en

Publishing Body

Access the portal

Full access to the portal and metadata.

Saltmarsh Survey of Great Britain

Identification

Temporal Extent

Extent

Extent

Vertical Extent

Distribution

Quality

Data quality

Keywords

Keywords

Citation

Keywords

Citation

Keywords

Citation

Spatial Reference System

Content

Content Information

NRW Profile

Custom Elements

Constraints

Constraints

Limitations on Public Access and Use

Access Constraints Directive

Access Constraints Text

Use Constraints

Attribution Statement

Licence

Metadata

Metadata

Publishing Body