Spatial/summary data for UK Ramsar sites

Spreadsheet of UK Ramsar information

• 'SiteData' - contains summary information about the Ramsar sites themselves, including a brief description, their size, location, date of designation, reasons for designation, information on flora and fauna, and a site-relevant bibliography. Most of the data are sourced from the Ramsar Information Sheet. The list includes all designated Ramsar sites in the UK and its Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies.

• 'BirdData' - shows the occurrence of each bird species on each site within the UK. The list of species for each site includes only those listed on the Ramsar Information Sheet. (Bird species occurring on Ramsar sites in UK Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies are listed in the 'SiteData' worksheet above.) Note that some Ramsar sites do not support significant bird interest.

• 'Ramsar maps' - offers a simple mapping facility. If a particular feature or site is selected in the above worksheets using the Autofilter function, a dot map will be displayed showing the location of the site(s).

• 'Criteria' - lists the Ramsar Criteria for which each site was designated. (See Annex II of the Ramsar Secretariat's Explanatory Notes and Guidelines for the Criteria and guidelines for their application.)

• 'Physical data' - contains summary information on landscape, geomorphology, geology and soils. It is intended to give a general impression of the physical character of the Ramsar site, and is not a detailed description. Note that some characteristics listed may form only a minor component of the site. This information is sourced from the Ramsar Information Sheet.

• 'Habitat cover' - indicates the percentage cover of certain broad habitat types in each Ramsar site. These are intended to give a general impression of the character of the site. The habitat types are defined by the Ramsar Information Sheet.

• 'Wet types' - contains broad information on the type(s) of wetland within each Ramsar site - e.g. Inland wetland, Marine/coastal wetland, Human-made (artificial) wetland. It is intended to give a general impression of the physical character of the Ramsar site, and is not a detailed description. Note that more than one wetland type may occur in a single site. This information is sourced from the Ramsar Information Sheet.

• 'Adverse factors' - contains summary information on significant natural or human-caused factors which have been adversely affecting Ramsar sites, and any measures being taken to address these issues, as reported to the Ramsar Secretariat. This information is sourced from the latest Ramsar UK National Report. Note that some minor factors may not be listed. The worksheet also includes Adverse factors reported previously, but which are not considered to be operating at present, or which have been addressed effectively. This information is sourced from the previous Ramsar UK National Report to provide an audit trail.  

• 'Human factors' - contains summary information on factors such as Land tenure/ownership, Current land use & human activities, Social & cultural values, and Conservation measures taken, on or adjacent to each Ramsar site. This information is sourced from the Ramsar Information Sheet. Note that some minor factors may not be listed.  

Within each worksheet the columns are coloured to aid navigation, and additional explanatory information is provided for most columns - to read this, hover your mouse cursor over the column heading.

The spreadsheet has been compressed into a ZIP archive to reduce download size - you will need compression software such WinZip or StuffIt to expand the file. Note that file size is over 1 Mb in ZIP compressed format. The spreadsheet is updated after any new SPA information is submitted to the EC, so if you have previously saved it to your own disk, please check that you are still using the latest version. The naming convention is UK_Ramsar_data_yyyymmdd.xls where yy is year, mm is month and dd is day.