UNITED KINGDOM · ENGLAND · DESIGNATIONS · STATUTORY
Special Protection Area
What this layer shows
European-level protection classified for rare and migratory birds.
Where the data comes from
ARCGIS · services.arcgis.com
Merestone asks this service live for the area on screen. Nothing is copied or stored beyond a short cache.
Facts shown for each feature
Site code · Area (ha)
In these presets
Essentials
What is protected here: the statutory designations, across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, plus ancient woodland. This is what the map opens with, and what Default puts back. It is a starting point, not a limit: every other layer is one tap away in the list below.
Desk study
The statutory designations an ecologist checks first: SSSI, SAC, SPA, Ramsar, National and Local Nature Reserves across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, plus ancient woodland and priority habitat. This is the opening move of a Preliminary Ecological Appraisal, what is protected on or near the site. Statutory sites are commonly scoped to 10 km and habitat inventories to 2 km, guidance sets no fixed distances, so set the radius to suit the project.
Coastal
The intertidal and soft-cliff suite: saltmarsh, sand dunes, vegetated shingle, maritime cliff and slope, mudflats and saline lagoons: plus Heritage Coast, Marine Conservation Zones, Scottish MPAs, and the SPA and Ramsar designations that nearly always sit over an estuary. The Coast Path is included because access and designation overlap constantly on this kind of site.
Forestry
The checks behind a felling licence or a woodland creation application: ancient woodland and its revision, the National Forest Inventory, the live felling licence register, EWCO low-sensitivity land, the 1891–1914 historic woodland maps, wood pasture, deciduous priority habitat, and the statutory designations that constrain felling and planting: SSSI, SAC, SPA and Ramsar.