UK Special Protection Areas with Marine Components: Site Boundaries and Features

Joint Nature Conservation Committee collates boundary and attribute data for Special Protection Areas (SPAs) with marine components across UK waters. The dataset includes a shapefile with site boundaries and attributes like site code and name, and a spreadsheet with protected feature information such as species name. The data was last updated on 2026-04-14.

Use Cases

• Map marine protected area boundaries for conservation planning based on the provided shapefile.
• Analyze bird species distribution and protection status based on the listed feature information.
• Assess the geographic distribution of SPAs by country and CP2 region using the site attribute data.

Strengths

• Dataset includes both geospatial boundaries and tabular feature data.
• Explicitly covers both inshore and offshore sites across all UK waters.
• Managed by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee on behalf of official Country Nature Conservation Bodies.

Limitations

• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.
• The provider notes that inshore SPA boundaries and feature lists may not be fully up-to-date.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

Joint Nature Conservation Committee

Collection Method

Collated on behalf of the Country Nature Conservation Bodies (CNCBs).

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-14 09:48:02.186358; freshness should be verified.

Geography

All UK waters, including inshore and offshore areas.