Designated sites in England
MAGIC, Defra's map of designated sites and other environmental data, covers Sites of Special Scientific Interest and other designations in England.
Open MAGIC →Protected sites in the UK
Some land and water in the UK is protected because of the wildlife or the landscape on it. Each kind of protection has its own name, and its own register.
See what the law protects on UK Wildlife Law and Conservation StatusWhat the designations mean
A protected site carries a label because someone assessed it against a specific set of criteria and a specific body took on the job of watching over it. The labels differ by what they protect and who holds the boundary, but each one means a piece of land or water has been recognised as worth keeping in a particular condition.
Sites of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) is land notified for its wildlife, geology or landform under British law. It is the base layer of site protection in Great Britain: a great many other designations, including Special Areas of Conservation and National Nature Reserves, sit on top of land that is already an SSSI.
Special Areas of Conservation and Special Protection Areas
A Special Area of Conservation (SAC) protects habitats and species of European importance, such as particular woodland types or rare invertebrates. A Special Protection Area (SPA) does the same job for birds, usually where a site holds nationally or internationally important numbers of a species at some point in its year, whether breeding, wintering or passing through on migration.
National Nature Reserves and Local Nature Reserves
A National Nature Reserve (NNR) is land managed to protect its wildlife or geology and, in most cases, to give people a place to see it. A Local Nature Reserve (LNR) is declared by a local authority for similar reasons, usually at a smaller scale and closer to where people live.
Ramsar sites
A Ramsar site is a wetland recognised under an international convention for its importance to waterbirds or to wetland habitats generally. Many Ramsar sites in the UK overlap with an SPA or SAC on the same ground.
Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and National Parks
An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and a National Park are both landscape designations, concerned first with the character and beauty of the land, though both often contain SSSIs and other wildlife designations within their boundary.
Who holds the boundary
The body responsible for a site's boundary and condition differs by nation. In England, Natural England holds this role, and its Designated Sites View lists England's designated sites along with their condition assessments, the record of whether a site is meeting the objectives it was notified for.
Where to look up a place
Each card links to a public map or dataset run by the body responsible for it, answering one question about a place.
Protected areas in Scotland
NatureScot's SiteLink is the map and register of protected areas in Scotland.
Open SiteLink →Protected sites in Wales
DataMapWales, the Welsh Government's map portal, shows protected sites across Wales.
Open DataMapWales →What's been recorded in an area
The NBN Atlas's explore-your-area page shows what species have been recorded near any place in the UK.
Explore your area →Bathing water quality
The Environment Agency publishes bathing water quality for England's designated bathing waters.
Check bathing water quality →Sewage overflows
The Rivers Trust's sewage map shows where sewage overflows discharged into rivers and seas.
Open the sewage map →The law and the species groups take it further
What is protected inside a site, and why, is covered in the law pages and the species groups.