UNITED KINGDOM · WALES · DESIGNATIONS · WALES
SPA (Wales)
What this layer shows
Special Protection Area: classified for rare, vulnerable and regularly occurring migratory birds. The qualifying interest is the bird assemblage, and it is often the reason an estuary carries three designations at once.
Where the data comes from
WFS · datamap.gov.wales
Merestone asks this service live for the area on screen. Nothing is copied or stored beyond a short cache.
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.