Special Protection Areas in England: Classified Bird Conservation Boundaries

Special Protection Areas are land classified under the EU Directive 79/409 on the Conservation of Wild Birds. Boundaries are mapped against Ordnance Survey MasterMap and supplied by Natural England with the status 'Classified'. The data was last updated on 2026-04-29 12:06:12.619235.

Use Cases

• Assess habitat connectivity for bird species based on the boundaries of classified Special Protection Areas.
• Model land-use change impacts on protected sites based on the geospatial boundary data.
• Support regulatory compliance and planning decisions based on the official 'Classified' status of the areas.

Strengths

• Boundaries are mapped against the high-resolution Ordnance Survey MasterMap.
• Data has a clear 'Classified' status, excluding proposed sites for consistency.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

Natural England

Collection Method

Data supplied under the EU Birds Directive (79/409/EEC) and classified by the relevant authority.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-29 12:06:12.619235; freshness should be verified.

Geography

England