UK Special Protection Areas (SPAs) with Marine Bird and Habitat Components

Special Protection Areas (SPAs) in the UK with marine components, defined by their qualifying bird species dependent on marine environments. The dataset is provided by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee and was last updated on 2026-04-14. It includes separate worksheets listing sites and their marine habitats.

Use Cases

• Mapping marine protected areas for conservation planning based on listed site locations.
• Analyzing the distribution of Annex I and migratory bird species based on the 'Marine interest features' and 'Common name' attributes.
• Studying the association between bird species and intertidal/subtidal habitats as described in the dataset's scope.

Strengths

• Dataset is supported by a shapefile for spatial analysis.
• Provides a clear definition of marine SPAs based on the Birds Directive (2009/147/EC).
• Separates site attributes from marine habitat information in distinct worksheets.

Limitations

• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.
• The data for inshore SPAs may not be the latest, as noted in the description.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

Joint Nature Conservation Committee

Collection Method

Defined by statutory nature conservation bodies for submission to the European Commission, as per the description.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-14 09:48:03.196887; freshness should be verified.

Geography

United Kingdom (including offshore and inshore waters)