What makes the SW natural environment so special?

978 Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI)
2 National Parks
12 AONBs
England's only statutory Marine Nature Reserve around the Island of Lundy. 69 Special Areas of Conservation (SAC),including eight marine SACs
15 Special Protection Areas
20% of England's remaining ancient woodland, spread across the region

The South West is an exceptionally wildlife rich area, which is reflected in the number of designated sites across the region. It supports the largest amount of semi-natural habitat of any English region. There are 978 Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) nationally important for their habitat and species interest. However, it is not just the diversity of habitats and species found in the SW that make it special but also the mosaic of inter-connected wildlife areas and landscapes across the region.

The national importance of the natural environment in the South West means that we have a particular responsibility to care for and extend our priority habitats and species, those identified in the national Biodiversity Action Plan. There are 42 priority BAP habitats and 838 BAP species identified in the South West. The following table highlights just how many of the priority habitats found in the SW form a significant proportion of the total national resource.

Rank	SW Priority BAP habitats	% of national habitat found in SW
1	Maritime cliff and slope	71%
2	Lowland calcareous grassland	57%
3	Saline lagoons	38%
4	Coastal and floodplain grazing marsh	35%
5	Lowland meadows	27%
6	Coastal sand dunes	26%
7	Purple moor grass and rush pasture	25%
8	Native Woodland	24%
9	Intertidal mud flats	22%
10	Fen	20%
11	lowland heathland	19%
12	Wood Pasture and Parkland	15%
13	Coastal vegetated shingle	14%
14	Upland heath	12%
15	Reedbeds	11%
16	Blanket bog	9%
17	Standing Open Water and Canals (Inc. Ponds, Mesotrophic Lakes and Eutrophic Standing Water, Oligotrophic and Dystrophic Lakes)	9%
18	Lowland dry acid grassland	6%
19	Lowland raised bog	4%
	Note 1: For 23 (i.e. more than half of) SW priority habitats have either no up to date national inventory data for the habitat is held or it is incomplete. Note 2: Marine data has not formed part of this analysis as relatively little data is available and it is currently subject to a parallel process. This information will be incorporated when available. Note 3: This data is subject to change as habitat inventories are often incomplete. Please note that these figures are therefore for guidance only.