SPECIALLY PROTECTED SITES IN SUFFOLK

The county of Suffolk is located on the extreme east of the country where it forms a large and integral component of East Anglia. Despite the landscape being heavily dominated by agriculture, the county has retained much of its natural heritage the majority of which is now protected by some kind of conservation designation. The county is well known for its extensive coastline habitats which include shingle beaches, saline lagoons, estuaries and saltmarsh. Suffolk also contains significant tracts of lowland heathland, the county resource being significant on both a national and international level. The majority of the heathland falls between The Brecks in the west or the Sandlings on the east coast. Suffolk is also rich in ancient woodlands, species rich meadows, marshland and reedbed. Suffolk’s reedbed is also significant on both a national and an international basis.

The county has in excess of 1100 designated sites which include locally, nationally and internationally assigned designations. There are 283 Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs), which are designated by English Nature, and these cover 31512 hectares of the county representing 8% of the total coverage of Suffolk (see map 1). Of these, 1599 hectares are designated as National Nature Reserves (NNRs) which represent the best examples of the SSSI sites. County Wildlife Sites (CWS), which are designated on a county importance level, cover a further 18970 hectares in approximately 850 sites. A further 19 sites (280 hectares) are also designated as Local Nature Reserves by the County Council, these sites usually also have one of the above designations, although not always. Large extents of Suffolk also come under the European designations of Specially Protected Areas (SPAs), which are designated for their bird interest, Special Areas of Conservation (SACs), and Ramsar sites which are designated for their wetland habitat significance (see map 2).