Many of the best sites for wildlife in England, Wales and Northern Ireland have some degree of legal protection and are designated.

There are 6,220 designated sites, of which 858 (14 per cent) include National Trust land.

• Amounts of designated land

We also care for a large part of two World Heritage Sites, designated for their geology: Giant's Causeway, Co Antrim, and the East Devon and Dorset Coast.

The designations:

• National Nature Reserve (NNR)
• Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI)
• Special Area of Conservation (SAC)
• Special Protection Area (SPA)
• Marine Nature Reserve (MNR)
• Ramsar: convention on wetlands
• Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI; N Ireland)

Some examples of designated sites under our care and protection:

Blakeney Point, Norfolk - NNR, SSSI, SAC, SPA, Ramsar

• One of the largest expanses of undeveloped coastal habitat in Europe
• Important for its freshwater grazing marsh and reedbeds
• Supports a wide range of coastal plant communities, with many nationally important species
• Exceptionally important for migratory birds and wintering waterfowl, with nationally and internationally important breeding colonies
• Supports colonies of common seals

Borrowdale and Derwent Water, Cumbria - SAC

• Internationally important woodland for its sessile oak wood and richness of mosses and lichens
• Seatoller Wood has a total of 182 lichen species, including rare and scarce species, and red squirrels
• Many rare plants including wood fescue and forked sleenwort
• Lodore-Toutdale Woods has one of the richest bryophyte (mosses and liverworts) floras in Britain, some of which are found nowhere else in England
• Sixteen species of fern have been recorded in Johnny Wood

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Brean Down, Somerset - SSSI, SAC

• Outstanding calcareous grassland that supports several rare, locally found species of plants and insects
• The south-facing slopes support three nationally rare species: Somerset grass, white rock-rose and dwarf sedge

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Cherhill Down & Oldbury Castle, Wiltshire - SSSI
OS grid ref: SU 046 694

• An extensive area of herb-rich chalk grassland
• Twenty five breeding butterfly species and the nationally rare wart-biter bush cricket
• Other invertebrates include the declining heath snail, characteristic of calcareous grassland

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Corfe Castle Estate, Dorset - SSSI, SAC

• One of the largest expanses of heathland left in Dorset with important lichen communities
• Important for dragonflies, grasshoppers, crickets, moths, beetles and butterflies
• All six British reptiles are present, including the rare sand lizard and smooth snake
• One of the most important breeding sites for heathland birds in the country

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Crom Estate, County Fermanagh - ASSI, SAC, SPA, Ramsar

• A wide variety of wetland communities and extensive woodlands
• One of the largest areas of semi-natural woodland in Northern Ireland
• The parkland is notable for the age of its trees, its lichens and its bat and bird species
• Strangford Lough supports many rare Irish invertebrate species

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Dinefwr, Carmarthenshire - SSSI

• Over 160 species of lichen have been recorded on the parkland and woodland trees
• Nationally important community of dead wood invertebrates (mostly beetles) live in the ancient trees and dead wood on the estate
• The flood plain of the Afon Tywi has many interesting plants and is used by numerous wildfowl

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Holnicote Estate, Somerset - NNR

• Nationally important for its lowland heathland and woodland
• Supports a large population of the nationally rare heath fritillary butterfly
• The woods support 14 of the UK's 17 known bat species, including breeding roosts of barbastelle and Bechstein’s bats
• Exceptional woodland lichen, with many nationally rare or scarce species
• Diverse woodland bird community which includes pied flycatchers, wood warblers and redstarts
• Streams and rivers have many pairs of dippers and grey wagtails

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Lindisfarne Castle, Northumberland - SSSI, SPA, Ramsar

• Wide range of coastal habitats, including inter-tidal sand and mudflats, salt-marshes, dunes and rocky shore
• Internationally important for breeding and wintering populations of sea birds
• The mosaic of heath and grassland on the dunes is unique to north-east England
• Dunes support a good range of insects, including rare butterflies and moths and a rare fly species
• The only English population of the wild flower, Scots lovage, can be found on the shore

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Lundy, Devon - SSSI, SAC, MNR

• Lundy MNR contains some of England's rarest and most spectacular marine plants and animals
• The island is a refuge for marine corals, seafans and erect branching sponges
• Grey seals breed on rocks and in caves
• Boasts an endemic plant, Lundy cabbage
• Important staging post for migrating birds and has important breeding populations of sea birds

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West Wight: the Needles, Tennyson Down and Headon Warren, Isle of Wight - SSSI, SAC
OS grid ref: SZ 300 848

• Supports large populations of very rare early gentian plant and juniper bushes
• Cliffs support rare southern rock crevice species such as wild cabbage
• Colonies of many species of sea bird, including puffins
• The downs have large populations of chalk grassland butterflies, including chalkhill, adonis and small blue
• A small breeding population of Dartford warblers

How much designated land do we care for?