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Geospatial data for nature recovery

We turn data into decisions that help nature recover.

Nature Data Solutions bridges academic research, national policy and on-the-ground delivery, giving planners, policymakers and land managers the evidence they need to target habitat restoration and climate resilience where it matters most.

Evidence trusted by
Natural EnglandDefraNational Trails UKIsle of Wight Council South Downs National ParkCanal & River Trust Weald to Waves
About us

Expertise you can talk to

We're a small, specialist team who believe the best geospatial evidence is worthless if decision-makers can't understand or act on it, so we work alongside you, not just for you.

At Nature Data Solutions, we use geospatial data to understand where nature is under pressure, and where recovery effort will have the greatest effect. By analysing the context, condition and trends of ecosystems, we develop targeted, evidence-led strategies for biodiversity restoration and climate resilience built to deliver on policy priorities.

We've worked across the public, private and academic sectors, which means we understand both the science and the practical constraints of delivery, funding and policy. Collaboration and systems-thinking sit at the heart of how we work, because nature recovery rarely respects a single organisation's boundaries.

Public sectorPolicy alignment, LNRS delivery, national research
Private sectorLand management, nature data innovation, stakeholder engagement
Academic sectorPeer-reviewed methods, published research
Portrait of Daneen Cowling
Founder and director
Daneen Cowling

Environmental data and spatial strategy specialist, with particular expertise in habitat connectivity modelling and evidence-led nature recovery planning. Co-author of the nationally recognised Isle of Wight Local Nature Recovery Strategy.

Environmental data and spatial strategy specialist, with particular expertise in habitat connectivity modelling and evidence-led nature recovery planning. My work focuses on understanding how landscapes function for nature, and how spatial data can design effective, resilient environmental strategies at local, regional and national scales.

I specialise in connectivity and resistance modelling, using tools including Condatis and Circuitscape. I co-authored the nationally recognised exemplar Isle of Wight Local Nature Recovery Strategy, and previously worked with Natural England and Defra, giving me strong insight into nature policy, regulation and delivery frameworks. I'm a member of the Strategic Nature Network Advisory Group for Rebuilding Nature, and a part-time PhD researcher at the University of Exeter, using remote sensing to understand the changing resilience of nature across the UK.

Finally, I am also one of the directors of The Common Space, where I lead the Isle of Wight LNRS, develop new research and delivery collaborations, and lead the Biosphere Investment Territory programme. Through our eco-engineering arm Artecology, I also support on project delivery and policy alignment.

Portrait of Dr Olly Bartlett
Geospatial intelligence lead
Dr Olly Bartlett

Earth observation and GIS specialist. Turns the satellite record and centimetre-scale drone surveys into a straight answer on whether nature is recovering or declining. Develops novel remote sensing methods and publishes in peer-reviewed journals including Nature Geoscience.

Earth observation and remote sensing specialist with expertise in GIS, UAV surveying and machine learning. My work focuses on understanding how vulnerable ecosystems are changing in a warming world, using satellite, aerial and drone-derived data to generate practical insights for biodiversity conservation, biosecurity and landscape restoration.

I co-authored a Nature Geoscience study on the greening of the Antarctic Peninsula and hold a CAA GVC for drone operation. Most of my survey work is now in the UK, though the methods were sharpened on campaigns in Greenland, Nepal, Svalbard and the Peruvian Andes. Having moved from academia to Nature Data Solutions, I apply Earth observation, UAV deployment and machine learning to build practical tools for investigating, monitoring and reporting on nature.

Finally, I am passionate about sharing my expertise with audiences interested in understanding how nature is changing and how we can monitor it from above to inform practical restoration efforts. Whether discussing outreach or delivering public talks, I am always keen to collaborate, so please feel free to contact us below.

How we help

Translating maps into management

We turn data into intelligence that you and those funding and delivering nature recovery can actually use.

Satellite view of a coastal landscape with modelled habitat connectivity overlaid, annotated to show a core connectivity zone, a barrier where a corridor is needed, and an area of reduced connectivity

Habitat connectivity

Nature recovery only works if habitat is joined up. We model how species can actually move through a landscape, where the network holds together and where it breaks, so effort and funding go to the places that reconnect the most.

  • Habitat connectivity analysis across Sussex using Condatis and Circuitscape, supporting farm-scale habitat enhancement (Weald to Waves, 2025).
  • Bottleneck analysis across the Canal & River Trust's England-wide network, showing where woodland, grassland and wetland connectivity is most strained. See the West Midlands output.
  • Connectivity analysis for priority species along the Yorkshire Coast, supporting the Coastal Wildbelt (National Trails UK, 2025).
  • Analysed connectivity “bottlenecks” in broad habitats to inform nature recovery across England (Natural England, 2024).
  • Multi-scale connectivity modelling with the Condatis tool (Chilterns National Landscape, 2024).
  • Interactive, scrollable story maps that turn a connectivity model into something a board or a landowner can read in five minutes.
  • Plain-English reporting alongside the technical outputs, from full evidence bases to board-level summaries.
Chat to us about connecting up your landscape
Daneen Cowling reading the local habitat map chapter of the Isle of Wight Local Nature Recovery Strategy

Spatial strategy and analysis

Local Nature Recovery Strategies are now a statutory requirement under the Environment Act 2021. We help create, use and monitor them, and turn the wider policy and funding landscape into decisions your team can act on with confidence.

  • Co-authored a nationally recognised Local Nature Recovery Strategy: the Isle of Wight LNRS, commended as an “exemplar” by the statutory body panel (2025).
  • Corridor critical width analysis with the South Downs National Park and National Trails UK, testing how much surrounding width a route needs to work for nature.
  • GIS workshops with the Canal & River Trust, using connectivity and LNRS evidence to agree where restoration effort goes first.
  • Connecting LNRS delivery with green finance, so the priorities written into a strategy have a credible funding route behind them.
  • Created the local habitat map for the Isle of Wight Local Nature Recovery Strategy (Isle of Wight Council, 2025).
  • Bespoke survey apps for georeferenced field data, including Priority Habitat validation (Plymouth City Council, 2024) and Tree Action Plan delivery (Natural England, 2024).
  • Advise and guide partners through the full LNRS process in other regions, and review policy developments for practical links to delivery and to UK and global targets.
  • Use public geospatial data to inform decisions on land use planning and multi-use land frameworks.
Chat to us about your nature strategy
Map of a chalk landscape combining SSSI condition, priority habitat and satellite-derived condition trend, annotated to show sites that are stable, under hidden stress, or declining and a survey priority

Nature intelligence from space

Satellites have been photographing every hectare of the UK for four decades, and they keep going every few days. We turn that archive into a straight answer about whether a place is recovering or declining, and add drone surveys where you need centimetre detail on the ground.

  • HERON, our monitoring platform: a 30-year health check for a site, updated every year, that flags habitats losing their ability to bounce back before the damage is visible on the ground.
  • Satellite Earth observation and machine learning applied to habitat condition, change and trend, always separating a fully verified reading from an early signal worth checking in person.
  • UAV survey: where a satellite pixel is too coarse to answer the question, we fly the site ourselves. CAA GVC certified, and used to ground-truth the satellite record so the two datasets check each other.
  • Co-lead authorship of a landmark Nature Geoscience study on the greening of the Antarctic Peninsula, alongside other lead-author publications on spatial data methods development and application in respected academic journals.
  • Ongoing doctoral research at the University of Exeter, using remote sensing to understand the changing resilience of nature across the UK.
Chat to us about monitoring from space
Dr Olly Bartlett preparing a survey drone on glacial moraine in front of a glacier

Contract research

Some questions don't fit a standard project brief. They need dedicated research time, academic rigour and a route to peer review. We take on commissioned research collaborations, working alongside universities, agencies and delivery bodies to answer the harder methodological questions behind nature recovery.

  • Commissioned research projects for public bodies, universities and delivery partners, scoped around a specific evidence need.
  • Method development and testing, building and validating new spatial or remote sensing approaches before they're rolled out at scale.
  • Collaboration on peer-reviewed publication, so findings hold up to external scrutiny, not just internal use.
  • Expertise across remote sensing, ecology and connectivity science.
Chat to us about a research project
Featured work

Isle of Wight Local Nature Recovery Strategy

Co-created with Isle of Wight Council and commended as an exemplar by the statutory body panel in 2025, drawing on habitat mapping, connectivity modelling and public engagement surveys delivered end to end by our team.

View the strategy
Let us show you

Real outputs from our work, decoded

We could describe our methods in the abstract. It's more useful to just show you. These are real outputs from our projects, made interactive so you can see what they actually tell a decision-maker.

This is a real Condatis connectivity output from our work with the Canal & River Trust which assessed habitat bottlenecks across their England-wide network. This is an example from the West Midlands region that shows where these bottlenecks occurred across woodland, grassland and wetland habitats. Bottleneck areas on this map represent areas within the regional habitat network where connectivity is highly strained. Click any shaded area to see what it could mean for prioritising nature restoration.

Map of priority habitat across the West Midlands, with woodland in dark green, grassland in olive, and wetland in blue

Click any shaded area on the map to see what that bottleneck means, and what we'd typically recommend.

Bottleneck severity
GrassWoodWet Minor Major Severe
Woodland habitat Grassland Wetland

Bottleneck areas modelled in Condatis for the Canal & River Trust, West Midlands. Habitat shown is the Priority Habitat Inventory combined with Canal & River Trust land, contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Boundary from Local Nature Recovery Strategy areas (Natural England / Defra). Settlement names courtesy of GeoNames.org, CC BY 4.0.

This is real Circuitscape connectivity modelling for six priority species, produced with Weald to Waves, a farmer-led nature recovery corridor across Sussex. Each line traces a route our modelling ranks as carrying key connections between habitat patches, thickest and brightest where the data says connectivity matters most. Click a species to isolate its network, or watch them all light up together to see where different species depend on the same connections within the landscape.

Swipe the map sideways to follow the corridors along the whole coast.

← Show all species

Corridor geometry derived from Circuitscape connectivity modelling across six species. County outlines from Local Nature Recovery Strategy area boundaries (Natural England / Defra). Town locations courtesy of GeoNames.org, CC BY 4.0.

HERON logo
Coming soon from Nature Data Solutions

HERON: a 30-year health check for your land, updated every year

Instead of a one-off survey that's already out of date by the time it lands on your desk, HERON shows how a site has actually changed, every year for the last three decades, and whether it's genuinely recovering or quietly declining. It flags habitats that are losing their ability to bounce back before the damage is visible on the ground, and shows how that risk shifts as the climate changes, so you can act early rather than react late. The result is a simple map, not a stack of data, and it always tells you the difference between a fully verified reading and an early signal worth checking in person.

Get early access
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Get in touch

Let’s talk about your landscape

Whether you're scoping a Local Nature Recovery Strategy, need connectivity modelling for a planning decision, or just want to know what's possible with your data, we're happy to have an informal first conversation.

We aim to reply within two working days.

Prefer email or LinkedIn?

Daneen Cowling, Founder and director daneencowling@naturedatasolutions.com
Dr Olly Bartlett, Geospatial intelligence lead ollybartlett@naturedatasolutions.com