BIRDS IN EAST SUSSEX AND KENT GET EXTRA PROTECTION

Important breeding colonies of Common terns, Little terns and Mediterranean gulls, and a wintering site for Bewick's swans along the coast of Kent and East Sussex get extra protection from today. A stretch of the south coast from Dungeness to Pett Level has been designated a Special Protection Area for Birds, which means development projects and recreational pursuits are now subject to stringent control. The area designated is made up of a range of diverse habitats such as shingle beaches, artifical lakes, marshland and inter-tidal areas and attracts about 11,000 birds a year As well as providing breeding habitat, the 1,500-hectare site is regularly used as a staging post by birds on passage between Britain and the Continent. It provides an important landfall for both migratory land birds and waterfowl, in particular for significant numbers of migrating and wintering Shoveler.

Announcing the move, Environment Minister Michael Meacher said: "This classification will protect breeding and wintering habitats for important groups of domestic and international wetland bird species. It brings the UK total of Special Protection Areas to 201, covering over 930,000 hectares. The action the Government is taking today gives this site the status it deserves - we understand and recognise the international importance of ornithological sites."

Special Protection Areas for Birds are designated under the 1979 European Commission Directive (79/409 EEC) on the conservation of wild birds. This requires Member States to notify the Commission of sites which are of particular importance to the conservation of wild birds. No site is classified under the Birds Directive unless it has first been notified as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) under Section 28 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. This notification protects the site by law from activities likely to damage its nature conservation interests. The Special Protection Area (SPA) classification gives public recognition to the international importance of the site and protection as a European site under the Conservation (Natural Habitats) Regulation 1994. This means that development proposals that would be detrimental to the nature conservation interest will be permitted only in very exceptional circumstances.