National Plant Monitoring Scheme – supported by Plantlife
Published: 23rd September 2020Last updated: 19th March 2021
The MTA webinars covering aspects of the upland environment and upland vegetation that took place during spring/lockdown this year, were joined by a significant number of MTA members. These sessions were always oversubscribed and created some enthusiastic feedback, demonstrating a keen interest in this important aspect of the Mountain Training schemes.
To provide further opportunities for MTA members to develop their interest in upland habitats, vegetation and ecology, the MTA is currently working with plant conservation charity
Plantlife to look at opportunities for MTA members to participate in upland vegetation monitoring projects currently being run by the charity. In particular, Plantlife, along with project partners, JNCC, UK CEH, BSBI and Daera are investigating the impact of climate change and environmental and management factors on UK semi-natural habitats, including upland vegetation and plant species through vegetation monitoring undertaken by the
National Plant Monitoring Scheme (NPMS).
The NPMS is a national habitat-based monitoring scheme that has been developed by a partnership of plant conservation charities and government conservation bodies. The Scheme collects information on habitat and vegetation provided by volunteer vegetation surveyors. The NPMS needs greater survey coverage within hill and mountain areas, and would greatly value contributions from MTA members who would be interested in undertaking habitat and vegetation surveys.
One of the great things about the NPMS is that it has several levels of survey input, from beginner to more accomplished vegetation survey and assessment, where all levels of survey are of value to the NPMS. The Scheme is supported by plenty of resources and expert training opportunities to help MTA members to build their knowledge and identification skills in upland habitats and vegetation.
The MTA will coordinate contributions from MTA members to the NPMS, helping to organise any resources or additional training that might be needed, and help to identify areas and levels of survey detail that would best suit MTA members' interests. Participation in these activities would attract MTA CPD points.
How to get involved
Over the coming weeks the MTA will advertise further webinar sessions to provide more information on this exciting initiative. Plantlife is enthusiastic about involvement by MTA members as volunteer NPMS surveyors, so hopefully there will be plenty of interest from within MTA membership.
Upcoming webinars
In November last year we hosted an
Intro to NPMS session which was well attended. This spring we're re-running this session for any new recruits or those that interested in refreshing their knowledge before getting started with their surveys this year...
Thursday 8th April @ 12 noon - Book your placeWatch last year's webinars at your leisure
For more information on the following habitat areas, tune into the online NPMS training series that we hosted last autumn.
View the recordings.
- Woodland, forest and scrub (part 1)
- Heath and grassland (part 2)
- Bog, wet heath, marsh and fen (part 3)
- Freshwater, rock outcrops, cliffs and screes (part 4)
Spring 2021 in-person events - Upland Habitat and Vegetation Survey workshops
Borrowdale sessions
Three dates are offered for this workshop - the same workshop will run on each date. The workshop is not only available to MTA members who have signed up as NPMS volunteers, and will be of interest to anyone with an interest in learning more about the habitats and vegetation of upland environments.
Saturday 24th April 2021Saturday 1st May 2021Sunday 2nd May 2021Glen Nevis sessions
One date is currently offered for this workshop:
Saturday 15th May 2021
Useful resources
You can find out all about the National Plant Monitoring Scheme (NPMS) on the website here:
https://www.npms.org.uk/, including how to get involved.
Take a look at our NPMS squares map to fid out if there is an available survey square near you!
https://www.npms.org.uk/square-near-me-public
All NPMS materials and guidance booklets for the NPMS are available digitally to download as PDFs at
http://www.npms.org.uk/content/resources
NPMS Partner organisations
