19/11/2022
UK-SCAPE is at the British Ecological Society Annual Meeting (18-21 December, Edinburgh), with elements of our wide-ranging programme presented on the UKCEH stand (number 13)

04/11/2022
Downscaling population and urban land use for socio-economic scenarios in the UK - new paper published in Regional Environmental Change

04/11/2022
New paper Improving regional applicability of the UK shared socioeconomic pathways through iterative participatory co-design published in Climate Risk Management

21/10/2022
'Why we are still in drought despite recent rain' - blog post

21/10/2022
ICYMI: Prof. Emmett talks about the importance of soil on BBC News during UK Soils Awareness Week [19m 30s]

19/10/2022
Report on harmonisation and integrated modelling of UK long-term vegetation data, focussing on heath & bog habitats

19/10/2022
UK-SCAPE plant diversity and occurrence app now includes survey data ranging from 1978 to 2021

22/09/2022
2022 reports on rodenticide residues in red kites and barn owls draw upon PBMS monitoring

22/09/2022
Paper reviews four emerging technologies that revolutionise insect ecology and monitoring

25/08/2022
UKCEH publishes latest Land Cover Map

23/08/2022
Cyanobacterial blooms on Windermere

23/07/2022
New record temperatures set at many ECN sites

20/07/2022
Dry weather and heatwave put increased pressure on UK water resources

22/06/2022
Listening out for nature: ECN acoustic monitoring presented at symposium

26/05/2022
Near real-time data for 267 river sites in Scotland now available on the UK Water Resources Portal

20/05/2022
New paper investigates sheep grazing and air pollution effects on moorland vegetation

19/05/2022
ECN work in the Cairngorms showcased at Big Nature Weekend

26/04/2022
Climate change is affecting Scotland's lochs and reservoirs

30/03/2022
Threatened butterfly species cope well in below-average year

16/03/2022
Explore hydrological forecasts for the UK through new portal

18/02/2022
Scientists and local campaigners have linked sewage flowing into Loch Leven, and climate change, to the increased growth of toxic algae 

09/02/2022
Data from the Cumbrian Lakes Monitoring Platform shows winter plays a vital role in freshwater ecosystems 

29/11/2021
UKCEH’s greenhouse gas monitoring station gets top data certification

18/11/2021
Latest Land Cover Map provides greater detail about British landscape

11/08/2021
Interactive map will make exploring Predatory bird Monitoring Scheme (PBMS) bird submissions simpler

28/05/2021
Climate change is causing declines in seabirds’ breeding success

19/04/2021
Interview with Professor Bridget Emmett on BBC Farming Today. Talking about soil: how much attention does it get?

03/03/2021
Britain’s larger moths decline by a third over 50 years

27/01/2021
Threatened seabirds have better survival chance if they migrate for winter

17/12/2020
Cumbrian Lakes Research Forum 2020 – science, regulation and policy discussion in a virtual world

04/12/2020
New online community hub to inspire action to protect our soils

18/09/2020
Artwork shows changes in air pollution during lockdown

09/07/2020
Almost 2 million acres of GB grassland lost as woodland and urban areas expand

19/05/2020
London’s CO₂ emissions cut by almost 60% during lockdown

24/03/2020
Track latest hydrological situation across the UK via our new portal

18/02/2020
UK freshwater insects are recovering while spiders are declining

27/01/2020
Warming trend revealed in eight decades of Cumbrian lake temperature records

16/12/2019
Non-native plants provide habitats for variety of British insects

05/11/2019
National field survey takes advantage of innovative technology

23/10/2019
High microplastic levels in soil can halve worm fertility

03/10/2019
UKCEH analysis informs extensive health check on UK wildlife

01/10/2019
Non-native ruffe found in Windermere for the first time

08/05/2019
A citizen science initiative for intermittent rivers and ephemeral streams

26/03/2019
Widespread losses among pollinating insects in Britain

31/01/2019
Landmark reached as one million wildlife encounters recorded in a year

We’re at the British Ecological Society Annual Meeting! Want to learn more about our freely available data? Come and find us on Stand 13 and talk to our team from 12-15 December at the ICC in Belfast.

The UK-SCAPE programme will be attending it's second BES annual meeting in December 2022. Details on the event can be found on the BES website. More details on the UK-SCAPE exhibit to follow.

An annual event for sharing developments in lake and freshwater research, regulation and management. It also provides an opportunity for discussion among scientists, lake and land managers, Rivers Trusts, regulators, policy-makers, water industry and interested citizens. You can read more about our Cumbrian Lakes Monitoring and research activities here. Over 40 people registered for the 2022 meeting, which included talks on: organic nutrients and algae; riverlands restoration; microplastic uptake by invertebrates; the 2021/22 Lakes Tour survey; benthic cyanobacteria; new methods of phosphorus removal; The Big Windermere Survey citizen science initiative; and integrating satellite observations, sensor networks, and models to improve monitoring of algal blooms.

The UK-SCAPE programme exhibited at BHS2022 in September 2022. Details on the event can be found on the BHS website.

The UK-SCAPE PAG met virtually in June following their previous extraordinary meeting in May. The PAG reviewed recent progress and future plans for the programme and received a presentation from Prof. Jack Cosby on one of the research themes within UK-SCAPE - Soil Organic Carbon Dynamics (SOC-D)

The PAG were informed on the UK-SCAPE response to the mid-term review by NERC Science Board. 

At this joint symposium between BES and RMetS, ecologists and climate scientists came together to form new collaborations to better inform the future of our planet. The UK-SCAPE programme held a stand at this two-day event and engaged with a wide range of 'potential data users' by conducting a survey on their data needs and through raising awareness of publicly funded data and data products available in the UK-SCAPE digital assets catalogue.

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UK-SCAPE exhibited at the BES annual meeting to engage with a wide range of 'potential data users'. The aim was to raise awareness of publicly funded UK-SCAPE data and learn how delivery and environmental monitoring can be improved. More information on the BES annual meeting can be found on the event webpage.

The PAG reviewed progress and commented on future plans as UK-SCAPE prepares for it's mid-term review by NERC Science Board. 

• Workshop report now available
• View videos of the talks

The SPEED (Spatially-explicit Projections of EnvironmEntal Drivers) programme described a new set of climate and socio-economic scenario datasets and products for the UK, to support future research and policy on UK climate risk and resilience. The datasets and products are based on the most recent set of widely applied scenarios for investigating climate change risk and resilience - the IPCC-community Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) and Shared Socio-economic Pathways (SSPs). The SPEED team have been working with partners to produce downscaled and enriched RCP and SSP datasets and products specifically for the UK. They shared these data and products with the community, discussed how they might be used, and sought feedback on how best to make these data and products available. 

The workshop aims were to:

• describe what scenario datasets and products have been created and the methods used;
• explain and discuss the basis and potential use of these datasets and products;
• assess how the wider community might want to use the data and products;
• discuss the best approaches to making the RCP climate data available and usable by the community.

The PAG welcomed new members Prof. Richard Bardgett, Prof. Jane Hill and Rob Maas. The meeting focused on one of two research themes within UK-SCAPE - Spatially explicit projections of environmental drivers and impacts (SPEED). Prof. James Bullock (Principal Investigator) provided an overview in preparation for talks from team members and PAG discussion. Presentations included:

• Co-creating the UK Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (UK-SSPs);
• High-resolution climate projections for modelling of climate change impacts in the UK;
• Modelling UK Land Use Futures;
• Pollution futures: projecting metal concentrations in GB soils under differing socio-economic and climate scenarios;
• Combined effects of land-use and climate change on UK native species.

Around 150 people attended our Data Visualisation webinar, drawing on UK-SCAPE data.

Following a gap due to the coronavirus, the PAG met via videoconference. The focus was on the underpinning monitoring component with presentations on recent progress and future plans for UKCEH’s Land Cover Map; activities within the Biological Records Centre and the promotion of visualisation techniques to improve communication; integration of UKCEH’s hydrological datasets (NRFA, Hydrological Outlooks and National Hydrological Monitoring Programme); the value of long-term monitoring platforms (with examples from Environmental Change Network, Lakes Monitoring, Loch Leven, and the Isle of May long-term study). There was also a presentation on the Data Science Framework and plans for use cases. The PAG also paused to reflect the sad loss of Prof. Richard Shore (UK-SCAPE Lead) and Prof. Dame Georgina Mace CBE (PAG Member).

The overall aim of the workshop was to share future thinking with respect to soil protection policies across Scotland, Wales, England and Northern Ireland as we depart from the EU. Read the review and download the workshop summary report.

During November 2019, UKCEH organised “Air quality, past, present and future” at the Royal Society in London. The meeting brought together a range of interdisciplinary researchers and practitioners working in fields related to air pollution, including human health, environmental policy and atmospheric composition in developing nations. Presentations covered the chronology of atmospheric composition in the UK and Europe over the last century, and talks on the effects of air pollutants on human health and on ecosystems. The papers presented identified scientific and policy issues central to these chronologies, their potential solutions and their costs. The event included talks on UK-SCAPE science by Eiko Nemitz, Mark Sutton and David Fowler. Recorded audio of the presentations is available, and meeting papers will be published in a future issue of Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A.

The aim of this event, aimed at external stakeholders, was to collect feedback on the UK-SCAPE Data Science Framework and to gain a better understanding of community expectations.

• Read the workshop report

We sought input and advice from representatives from the science community as we go forward with UK-SCAPE. At the first meeting of this group, which comprised key stakeholders and academics, we provided an overview of the science work packages and discussed our approach to community engagement. 

Follow-up workshop on UK soil carbon with external institutions including Forest Research, BGS and Stirling University. The focus was on UK soils database and ongoing work.