Environmental change in Britain's countryside: an analysis of recent patterns and socio-economic processes based on the Countryside Survey 1990

Recent environmental change in the British countryside is increasingly well documented. The advent of the government's Countryside Survey 1990 adds significantly to knowledge about stock and change, though analysis of the results to date has focused on the extent and direction of land cover change and gives little indication of the pattern of change. This paper draws on a linked analysis of Countryside Survey and farm survey data to identify where, in terms of upland, pastural and arable landscapes, most land cover and botanical change is taking place. It goes on to describe the attributes of high change farms and compares their management histories.