Good Learning Co.
SavannahYear 8
← Geography
GeographyWhere animals live30 min★★★ difficulty

Mapping wildlife: grid references, scale and satellite images

A wildlife record is worth little without a location. Learn to place and read a sighting properly and your notebook becomes usable data.

Lesson overview

What you'll learn in this lesson

Interpret Ordnance Survey maps, including using grid references, scale, topographical and other thematic mapping, and aerial and satellite photographs

Key learning points

  • • Eastings then northings
  • • Scale and distance
  • • Habitat from a map
  • • Adding satellite and aerial images

This lesson at a glance

  • 30 minutes
  • 18 parts to scroll through
  • 4 quick checks
  • Marked quiz at the end
  • Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses

Words to know

interpretordnancesurveyreferencestopographical

Scroll down — the lesson carries on below

Part 1 of 18 · Discover6%
1

Watch & discover

Part 1 of 18

Watch first

Mapping wildlife: grid references, scale and satellite images

An English teaching video on this topic from Learn Bright. Watch it, then scroll down for the lesson.

In a nutshell

Interpret Ordnance Survey maps, including using grid references, scale, topographical and other thematic mapping, and aerial and satellite photographs

2

What you already know

Part 2 of 18

Before we start

What you already know

You should already know that maps use symbols, a scale and a north arrow.

3

Key words

Part 3 of 18

Key words

Words you'll need today

Six-figure grid reference
A location given to the nearest 100 metres on an OS map.
Contour
A line joining points of equal height.
Scale
The ratio between map distance and real distance.
Thematic map
A map showing one theme, such as species range or land use.
Satellite image
A photograph of the surface taken from orbit.
4

Learning cycle

Part 4 of 18

Learning cycle 1 of 2

Placing a record precisely

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

5

Explore the idea

Part 5 of 18

Learn

Eastings then northings

Read the easting first, then the northing — along the corridor, then up the stairs. A four-figure reference gives a one-kilometre square; adding a tenth of a square each way gives six figures, accurate to about 100 metres, which is enough to return to the same hedge or pond.

6

Explore the idea

Part 6 of 18

Learn

Scale and distance

On a 1:25 000 map, 4 centimetres represents 1 kilometre; on 1:50 000, 2 centimetres does. Estimating a walked route means measuring straight sections and adding a little for bends, then checking contours: crossing many close contours means climbing, and slow going.

7

Quick check

Part 7 of 18

Quick check

In a grid reference you read

8

Reset break

Part 8 of 18

Pause

That's sitting 1 of 2 done

Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.

Stop here for now
9

Quick check

Part 9 of 18

Quick check

A six-figure grid reference is accurate to about

10

Learning cycle

Part 10 of 18

Learning cycle 2 of 2

Reading habitat from maps and images

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

11

Explore the idea

Part 11 of 18

Learn

Habitat from a map

Woodland symbols, marsh, water bodies, field boundaries and rights of way tell you where to look for what. Bats need water and tree lines; amphibians need ponds; deer favour woodland edges. Contour spacing shows the steep, undisturbed ground where larger mammals shelter.

12

Explore the idea

Part 12 of 18

Learn

Adding satellite and aerial images

Aerial photographs show what has changed since the map was printed — a new road, a lost hedge, a dried pond. Thematic maps overlay range data, protected areas or land use. Used together, sightings can be checked against habitat rather than guessed at.

13

Quick check

Part 13 of 18

Quick check

On a 1:25 000 map, 1 kilometre is shown as

14

Quick check

Part 14 of 18

Quick check

Closely spaced contours indicate

15

Common mix-ups

Part 15 of 18

Common mix-ups

Things people often get wrong

  • Easting comes before northing, not after.
  • Closely spaced contours mean steep ground, not high ground.
  • A satellite image is not a map: it has no key, and features must be interpreted.
16

Challenge round

Part 16 of 18

Game · Sort it

Which of these are true?

Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.

True

Not true

17

Mastery quiz

Part 17 of 18

Marked quiz

End of lesson quiz: Mapping wildlife: grid references, scale and satellite images

6 questions, marked with the reasoning shown. No timer.

  1. 1. A thematic map might show

  2. 2. Aerial photographs are useful because they

  3. 3. Which habitat feature would you look for to find bats?

  4. 4. On 1:50 000, 2 cm represents

  5. 5. A four-figure reference locates a square of

  6. 6. Contours join points of

18

Lesson round-up

Part 18 of 18

Lesson round-up

Ready when you are

Quiz score

Not sat

Games

Not played

Points this lesson

0

Best run

0 in a row

Luna: 0 out of 4 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?

Ask Luna

Do the work

Your written work for this lesson

This is the part you'd do in your book at school. Pick the pieces below, write here or on paper, and photograph anything you draw or work out.

Case study

Flooding on the River Calder

The town of Harbrook sits where a steep valley opens onto a flat floodplain. In December 2015, 120 mm of rain fell in 36 hours onto ground that was already saturated. The river rose 2.4 m in five hours, and 380 homes and 54 businesses flooded. Two roads and the railway closed for eleven days.

Geographers pointed to physical causes — steep slopes, impermeable rock, heavy rainfall — and human causes: moorland drained upstream, new housing built on the floodplain, and drains designed for smaller storms.

Since then the town has planted 40 hectares of woodland upstream, built leaky dams in small streams, and raised flood walls to 1.8 m. In the storm of 2020 the peak river level was 0.3 m lower and 40 homes flooded, not 380.

Written for Good Learning Co.

Reading questions

  1. List two physical and two human causes of the 2015 flood.
  2. Explain how planting woodland upstream lowers the river's peak level.
  3. Using the figures, judge how successful the scheme has been. Quote data in your answer.

  • Case study notes

    Writing

    Write the place, the facts and the figures from this lesson so you can revise them later.

    Half a page

  • Explain answer

    Writing

    Answer in full sentences, giving causes and effects. Use one figure or place name as evidence.

    8–10 sentences

  • Map or sketch

    Diagram

    Draw the map, cross-section or field sketch with a key, title and labels, then photograph it.

    1 map with a key

  • Data work

    Working out

    Plot your figures as a graph on paper and write one sentence about the pattern.

    1 graph + 1 sentence

Saved as you type.

Part 1 of 18 · Watch & discover

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