Wildlife Designations : A brief guide

Local Nature Reserve (LNR)

LNRs are declared and managed by the local authority, who must own or lease the land. Natural England, formerly English Nature, should be consulted to ensure that the designation is appropriate. A site need not have any great rarities, but can instead be valued by the local community as a wildlife habitat. There should be a management plan with three main elements : a definition of the purpose of the LNR, a costed work-plan, and a means of monitoring and recording activities and wildlife. This inevitably means that an LNR costs money to run it. The framework for LNRs was established by legislation in 1949.
Portsmouth's only LNR is Farlington Marshes.

Ramsar site

Ramsar is a resort on the Caspian Sea in Iran. The "Convention on Wetlands of International Importance especially as Waterfowl Habitat" was adopted there in 1971. Its main objective is to stem the loss of wetland habitats. There are now 123 Contracting Parties to the Convention, with 1060 wetland sites totalling 80.6 million hectares worldwide. Ramsar sites may in some cases have the same boundaries as SPAs. For more information see the Ramsar web-site
Portsmouth has a Ramsar site on each side. The northern half (1248.77 ha to be precise) of Portsmouth Harbour is designated because of the quality and productivity of the mudflats, which in turn support significant numbers of Brent Goose, Dunlin, Black-tailed Godwit and Red-breasted Merganser. Langstone Harbour (5810.03 ha when combined with Chichester Harbour) qualifies for similar reasons.

Special Area of Conservation (SAC)

The European Community Habitats Directive 1992 requires the designation of SACs in order to conserve a defined set of habitats and species other than birds (which are covered by SPAs).
There are two Local SACs. Solent Maritime, with an area of 11,325.09 ha, includes Chichester and Langstone Harbours (but not Portsmouth Harbour). Solent and Isle of Wight Lagoons, at just 36.24 ha, cites Farlington Marshes for its low-medium salinity lagoon.

Solent European Marine Site (SEMS)

The SEMS designation is like a protective outer wrapper for the Solent. It consists of the marine parts of seven internationally designated areas, the Solent Maritime SAC, three SPAs and three Ramsar sites. The Ramsars and SPAs generally overlap. The Solent and Isle of Wight Lagoons SAC does not appear to be included. Natural England has a statutory responsibility for SEMS.

Site of Importance for Nature Conservation (SINC)

Names for this type of non-statutory designation vary between counties. A SINC is generally less significant for wildlife value than an SSSI, but is reckoned to be difficult or impossible to replace if destroyed. Within Portsmouth, the site must comply with at least one of five selection criteria :

• Neutral, acid or calcareous grassland which is unimproved or capable of being restored.
• Wetlands, from springs through to lakes, with a significant variety of flora and fauna.
• Coastal and estuarine areas, such as beaches, mudlflats and grazing marshes.
• Sites which have important numbers of particular species, e.g. Brent Geese.
• Sites valued by local people for wildlife, or with good potential for environmental education.

SINCs may be in public or private ownership. Hampshire County Council gives advice to landowners on management practices that will maintain the value of the site. There is no obligation on the owner to do anything, and so a SINC is much cheaper to run than an LNR or SSSI.
SINC does not stand for Site Is Not Concrete!
There are presently twelve SINCs in Portsmouth, five being on Portsdown Hill : fields near Fort Purbrook, Fort Southwick Ramparts, a meadow west of Farlington Avenue, a meadow south-east of the George Inn and land behind Fort Widley. The others are Eastney Beach, fields near Fort Cumberland, Great Salterns, Great Salterns Lake, Milton Common, land near Farlington Marshes and part of Hilsea Lines.

Special Protection Area (SPA)

This designation comes from the European Community Birds Directive of April 1979. By taking special measures, member states are required to conserve the habitats of particular rare or vulnerable species of birds, and also the habitats of regularly occurring migratory species.
The northern half of Portsmouth Harbour is an SPA, as is the whole of Langstone Harbour.

Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI)

Probably the most infamous designation of the lot. The basis for SSSIs was first created in law in 1949, with subsequent changes to the legislation. The latest long-overdue revision is in The Countryside and Rights of Way (CRoW) Act (2000), which amongst other things, gives Natural England new powers to control the management of SSSIs, and if necessary, to resort to compulsory purchase in order to preserve the site.
SSSIs in this area are the northern half of Portsmouth Harbour, Langstone Harbour, and part of Portsdown Hill. Details of SSSIs are available on the Natural England web-site.

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