A site of special scientific interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or an area of special scientific interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of Man. SSSI/ASSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in the United Kingdom are based upon them, including national nature reserves, Ramsar sites, Special Protection Areas, and Special Areas of Conservation. The acronym "SSSI" is often pronounced "triple-S I".
Chobham Common is a 655.7-hectare (1,620-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest north of Chobham in Surrey. It is a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade I and a national nature reserve. It is part of the Thames Basin Heaths Special Protection Area and the Thursley, Ash, Pirbright and Chobham Special Area of Conservation. It contains three scheduled monuments. Most of the site is managed by the Surrey Wildlife Trust as the Chobham Common nature reserve, but the SSSI also includes a small private reserve managed by the Trust, Gracious Pond.
A heath is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a cooler and damper climate.
The New Forest is one of the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture land, heathland and forest in Southern England, covering southwest Hampshire and southeast Wiltshire. It was proclaimed a royal forest by William the Conqueror, featuring in the Domesday Book.
Dorset Wildlife Trust (DWT) is a wildlife trust covering the county of Dorset, United Kingdom. The trust was founded in 1961 as Dorset Naturalists' Trust, to protect and conserve the wildlife and natural habitats of the county.
Wareham Forest is an area of countryside in Dorset, England, consisting of open heathland, including Decoy Heath and Gore Heath, and plantations of conifers such as Morden Heath and Bloxworth Heath. The site is managed by Forestry England for conservation and recreation. Situated next to the A35 road between Dorchester and Poole; the forest provides a home for sika deer, the Dartford warbler and a population of sand lizards.
Holt Heath is a 4.88 square kilometres (1.88 sq mi) common situated four miles north-east of Wimborne Minster in east Dorset, southern England, close to the village of Holt. The reserve includes dry and wet heathland, bog and ancient woodland. The common has several nature conservation designations: national nature reserve, Special Protection Area, Special Area of Conservation and Site of Special Scientific Interest. It is owned by the National Trust and managed in association with Natural England. The heath is one of the few places where all six native British reptile species occur, and it also supports many other heathland animals, plants and birds. Rare heathland birds such as Eurasian Hobby, nightjar, Dartford warbler and woodlark have been recorded as breeding on the reserve.
Lindow Common is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) on the western edge of the town of Wilmslow, Cheshire, in the northwest of England. It is also designated a Local Nature Reserve.
Canford Heath is a suburb and area of heathland in Poole, Dorset, known for being the largest heathland in Dorset, and the largest lowland heath in the UK. It is also the name of the housing development built on the heathland in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. The area is split into two wards, and at the 2011 census the combined population of the two wards was 14,079.
Bickerton Hill refers to two low red sandstone hills that form the southern end of the Mid Cheshire Ridge in Cheshire, north-west England. The high point, Raw Head, lies on the northerly hill and has an elevation of 227 metres. Parts of the southerly hill are also known as Larkton Hill.
Lowland heath is a Biodiversity Action Plan habitat as it is a type of ancient wild landscape. Natural England's Environmental Stewardship scheme describes lowland heath as containing dry heath, wet heath and valley mire communities, usually below 250 metres (820 ft) in altitude, on acidic soils and shallow peat, typically comprising heathers, gorses, fine grasses, wild flowers and lichens in a complex mosaic. Heathers and other dwarf shrubs usually account for at least 25% of the ground cover. By contrast, upland heath, which is above 300 metres (980 ft) in altitude, is called moorland, Dartmoor being an example.
Woolmer Forest is a 1,298.5-hectare (3,209-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest south of Bordon in Hampshire and West Sussex. It is also a Special Area of Conservation and part of the Wealden Heaths Phase II Special Protection Area. Two areas are Nature Conservation Review sites, Grade I.
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.
Waldridge Fell is a Site of Special Scientific Interest located immediately south-west of Chester-le-Street in the northern part of County Durham, England. It is one of the largest areas of lowland heath in County Durham and contains the only lowland valley-mire in the county. The fell is home to a number of plants and insects that are scarce to rare elsewhere in the county.
Godrevy Head to St Agnes is a coastal Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in north Cornwall, England], noted for both its biological and geological characteristics. A number of rare and scarce plant species can be found on the site, along with many breeding seabirds.
Rosenannon Downs is a nature reserve in mid Cornwall, England, UK, being designated Rosenannon Bog and Downs Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), noted for its biological characteristics. The site supports a wide variety of flora and fauna and includes Bronze Age barrows. Conservation work is carried out on the site by the owners, the Cornwall Wildlife Trust.
Poor's Allotment is a 28.57-hectare (70.6-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Gloucestershire, notified in 1954. The site is listed in the 'Forest of Dean Local Plan Review' as a Key Wildlife Site (KWS).
Ferndown Common is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) on the edge of Ferndown in Dorset, England. It is currently owned by the Wimborne Estate and leased to the Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Trust (ARC), who manage it to preserve the site's rare wildlife. The site was notified as an SSSI in 1984.
Hartland Moor is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) on the south side of Poole Harbour near the town of Wareham in Dorset, England. It consists of lowland heathland.
