Special Protection Areas

The EU Birds Directive (79/409/EEC) requires designation of SPAs for: listed rare and vulnerable species; regularly occurring migratory species, such as ducks, geese and waders; wetlands, especially those of international importance, which attract large numbers of migratory birds each year. (Internationally important means that 1% of the population of a species uses the site, or more than 20,000 birds regularly use the site.) This is a national dataset created by the National Parks and Wildlife Service, department of Housing, Local Government, and Heritage.