Special Protection Areas

this map was generated from data owned by the Countryside Council for Wales

Burry Inlet
Carmarthen Bay
Castle Martin Coast
Dyfi Estuary
Elenydd - Mallaen
Grassholm
Ramsey & St Davids Peninsula Coast
Skokholm & Skomer

Special Protection Areas (SPAs) are strictly protected sites classified in accordance with the EC Directive on the conservation of wild birds (79/409/EEC), or the Birds Directive which came into force in April 1979. SPAs are classified for rare and vulnerable birds, listed in Annex I to the Birds Directive, and for regularly occurring migratory species. The first SPAs were classified in the UK in the early to mid 1980s.

These protected areas, as well as the SACs, are known as Natura 2000 sites.

The Joint Nature Conservation Committee website has a more detailed description of SPAs as well as a list of SPAs in Wales.