The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 is an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom implemented to comply with European Council Directive 79/409/EEC on the conservation of wild birds. In short, the act gives protection to native species, controls the release of non-native species, enhances the protection of Sites of Special Scientific Interest and builds upon the rights of way rules in the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949. The Act is split into 4 parts covering 74 sections; it also includes 17 schedules.
Titchwell Marsh is an English nature reserve owned and managed by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB). Located on the north coast of the county of Norfolk, between the villages of Titchwell and Thornham, about 8 km (5.0 mi) east of the seaside resort of Hunstanton, its 171 hectares include reed beds, saltmarshes, a freshwater lagoon and sandy beach, with a small woodland area near the car park. This internationally important reserve is part of the North Norfolk Coast Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and the Norfolk Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), and is also protected through Natura 2000, Special Protection Area (SPA) and Ramsar listings.
Fairburn Ings Nature Reserve is a protected area in West Yorkshire, England, noted for its avian biodiversity. The reserve has recorded around 280 bird species, remarkable for an inland site in the United Kingdom. This is explained by the site being on migration routes as well as the diversity of habitats.
The ancient 'Kynges Towne' of Brading is the main town of the civil parish of the same name. The ecclesiastical parish of Brading used to cover about a tenth of the Isle of Wight. The civil parish now includes the town itself and Adgestone, Morton, Nunwell and other outlying areas between Ryde, St Helens, Bembridge, Sandown and Arreton. Alverstone was transferred to the Newchurch parish some thirty years ago.
RSPB Dearne Valley Old Moor is an 89-hectare (220-acre) wetlands nature reserve in the Dearne Valley near Barnsley, South Yorkshire, run by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB). It lies on the junction of the A633 and A6195 roads and is bordered by the Trans Pennine Trail long-distance path. Following the end of coal mining locally, the Dearne Valley had become a derelict post-industrial area, and the removal of soil to cover an adjacent polluted site enabled the creation of the wetlands at Old Moor.
Burton Mere Wetlands is a nature reserve on the Dee Estuary straddling the border between Cheshire, England and Flintshire, Wales. It is run by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and incorporates the older Inner Marsh Farm reserve. It lies near the village of Burton, about 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) south of Neston. It has all been developed by the RSPB and includes a large area of mixed wetland habitats, bluebell woodlands, and arable fields all managed to attract wildlife.
Alverstone Marshes is an 83.8 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest on the Isle of Wight, notified in 1951.
Lodmoor is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), RSPB reserve and country park in Dorset, England. The country park features a visitor centre, model railway and pitch and putt golf course. The SSSI has a wetland habitat with native birds that are rare in the UK and a range of migratory species.
Cardiff Bay Wetlands Reserve is located in Cardiff Bay in the city of Cardiff. It covers an area of approximately 8 hectares. The area was officially opened as a wildlife reserve on 25 July 2002 in what was previously an area of Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) up until the opening of the Cardiff Bay Barrage in April 2001. The area had previously been salt marsh, but the Barrage created 200 hectares of freshwater lake, and from this the reserve was developed.
The Wilderness is a Site of Special Scientific Interest which is located on the Isle of Wight, England. It is close to the village of Rookley in the valley of the River Medina. The Wilderness is an area of wet woodland over a quite deep peat soil with adjacent areas of unimproved acid grassland and wet grassland. The SSSI covers an area of 12.59 hectares, the boundaries being reset in 1984 to exclude an area of grassland which had been artificially improved.
Brading Marshes to St. Helen's Ledges is a 488.5-hectare (1,207-acre) Site of special scientific interest which stretches from Brading along the Yar valley between Bembridge and St Helens, Isle of Wight through to the sea at Priory Bay on the north east coast of the Isle of Wight. It encompasses the Brading Marshes RSPB reserve, Bembridge harbour and the inter tidal sand, mud flats and rocky ledges exposed off the coast at low water, including the land around St Helens Fort which is not attached to the mainland. It is the second largest SSSI on the Isle of Wight. The site was notified in 1951 for both its biological and geological features.
Sound Heath, also known as Sound Common, is an area of common land in Sound, near Nantwich in Cheshire, England, which includes heathland, grassland, scrub, woodland and wetland habitats. The majority of the area is designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a Local Nature Reserve.
North Warren RSPB reserve is a nature reserve run by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) in Suffolk, England. It lies on the Suffolk coast on the north edge of the town of Aldeburgh and to the south of Thorpeness and includes the Aldringham Walks area of heathland to the north. It is within the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and the Suffolk Heritage Coast area. Noted for its populations of Eurasian bittern, European nightjar and other bird species, it covers a range of coastal habitats and is protected with SSSI, SPA conservation status.
The Lower Moors is a wetland between Hugh Town and Old Town Bay on St Mary's, the largest island in the Isles of Scilly. The Isles of Scilly are an archipelago off the southwestern tip of the Cornish peninsula of Great Britain.
Porth Hellick is a tidal inlet on the south coast of St Mary’s, the largest island in the Isles of Scilly.
The North Norfolk Coast Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) is an area of European importance for wildlife in Norfolk, England. It comprises 7,700 ha (19,027 acres) of the county's north coast from just west of Holme-next-the-Sea to Kelling, and is additionally protected through Natura 2000, Special Protection Area (SPA) listings; it is also part of the Norfolk Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). The North Norfolk Coast is also designated as a wetland of international importance on the Ramsar list and most of it is a Biosphere Reserve.
Cley Marshes is a 176-hectare (430-acre) nature reserve on the North Sea coast of England just outside the village of Cley next the Sea, Norfolk. A reserve since 1926, it is the oldest of the reserves belonging to the Norfolk Wildlife Trust (NWT), which is itself the oldest county Wildlife Trust in the United Kingdom. Cley Marshes protects an area of reed beds, freshwater marsh, pools and wet meadows and is part of the North Norfolk Coast Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), Special Area of Conservation (SAC), Special Protection Area (SPA), and Ramsar Site due to the large numbers of birds it attracts.
Stodmarsh SSSI is a 623.2-hectare (1,540-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest near Stodmarsh, north-east of Canterbury in Kent. Parts of it are a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade I, a National Nature Reserve, a Ramsar internationally important wetland site, a Special Area of Conservation and a Special Protection Area under the European Union Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds.
