What is the difference between a National and a Local Nature Reserve?

National Nature Reserves are the premier statutory reserves, declared for the best examples of habitats under section 19 of the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949. Local Nature Reserves are declared by local authorities under section 21 for local wildlife and amenity value. The designation_type field tells you which is which on every record.

Which nations are covered?

England, Scotland and Wales. Reserves come from Natural England, NatureScot and Natural Resources Wales, reconciled into one schema. Northern Ireland is not included in this product.

Who are the official custodians?

Natural England for England, NatureScot for Scotland and Natural Resources Wales for Wales. Each record names its custodian and returns that custodian's attribution string. Natural England holds 224 NNRs and 1,724 LNRs; Natural Resources Wales holds 76 NNRs and 97 LNRs.

Is the data statutory?

Yes. Both designations are statutory. NNRs and LNRs are declared under the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949, with the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 adding further statutory provision. This product carries the statutory reserves only, not informal or non-statutory sites.

How is the data licensed?

Open Government Licence v3.0 throughout, from named public-sector custodians, with attribution returned on every record. The product deliberately excludes non-OGL sources so commercial reuse stays clean.

What coordinate system is used?

Every reserve is served in EPSG:4326 (WGS84), reprojected server-side from British National Grid. You receive a centroid as latitude and longitude, ready to map or query without further transformation.

How do I query the data?

Over a read-only REST API at /v1/conservation. Query by point, radius, bounding box or polygon, or fetch a single reserve by its stable id. The public type vocabulary is free to list for evaluation; access is an annual licence rather than pay-per-call.

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National and Local Nature Reserves

Every National and Local Nature Reserve in England, Scotland and Wales, from Natural England, NatureScot and Natural Resources Wales, in one schema with NNR and LNR clearly distinguished.

224 + 1,724

NNRs + LNRs (England)

Nations covered

EPSG:4326

Geometry

OGL v3.0

Licence

Overview

About this dataset

Two statutory reserve types in one dataset. National Nature Reserves are the premier reserves, declared for the best examples of British habitats. Local Nature Reserves are declared by local authorities for local wildlife and amenity value. A designation_type field separates the two on every record, so you never have to guess which protection applies.

The statutory basis is the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949, with NNRs declared under section 19 and LNRs under section 21, alongside the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. We take the registers held by Natural England (224 NNRs and 1,724 LNRs), NatureScot, and Natural Resources Wales (76 NNRs and 97 LNRs) and reconcile them into one schema with one stable identity per reserve.

Every reserve is served with valid EPSG:4326 (WGS84) geometry, reprojected server-side from British National Grid. Query by point, radius, bounding box or polygon over /v1/conservation, or fetch a single reserve by its stable id. Welsh reserves carry their bilingual name_cy. Year-only declaration dates are flagged with a date_precision value, so a date held only as a year is never served as an exact day.

The licence is Open Government Licence v3.0 throughout, sourced from named public-sector custodians, with per-custodian attribution returned on every record. Reserve geometry sits alongside SSSIs, planning constraints and habitat layers, so a single point query tells you whether a site falls inside or beside statutory protected land.

What's included

Everything in the box

NNR and LNR labelled

A designation_type field marks every record as a National or Local Nature Reserve, so the two statutory tiers stay distinct while sharing one schema.

Spatial query four ways

Search reserves by point, radius, bounding box or polygon, or fetch a single reserve by its stable id over /v1/conservation.

EPSG:4326 geometry

Every reserve carries valid WGS84 geometry, reprojected server-side from British National Grid, ready to map without further transformation.

Bilingual Welsh names

Reserves in Wales return name_cy alongside the English name, sourced directly from Natural Resources Wales.

Honest declaration dates

A date_precision flag records whether a declaration date is held to the day, month or year, so a year-only value is never presented as an exact date.

OGL provenance per record

Each reserve returns its custodian and Open Government Licence v3.0 attribution, keeping commercial reuse clean and traceable.

Data fields

What each record carries

schema14 fields

reference: string// Custodian reference for the reserve, forming the tail of the stable id.

nation: enum// ISO-style nation code for the reserve: ENG, SCT or WAL.

designation_type: enum// Statutory tier of the reserve, distinguishing National from Local Nature Reserve.

name: string// Official name of the reserve as held by the custodian.

name_cy: string// Welsh-language name for reserves in Wales, where supplied by Natural Resources Wales.

source: string// Public-sector custodian that holds the reserve record.

designated_date: date// Date the reserve was declared, read together with date_precision.

amended_date: date// Date the reserve record was last amended, where the custodian records one.

date_precision: enum// Precision of the declaration date: day, month, year or none.

local_authority: string// Local authority area in which the reserve sits.

area_hectares: float// Reserve area in hectares, where reported by the custodian.

centroid: object// Representative centre point of the reserve in EPSG:4326, as lat and lng.

source_url: string// Link to the custodian's published record for the reserve.

licence: string// Licence under which the record is supplied, Open Government Licence v3.0 throughout.

Sample response

Straight from the API

response.jsonapplication/json

{
  "id": "design.nature_reserves.WAL.national_nature_reserve.newborough-warren",
  "reference": "newborough-warren",
  "nation": "WAL",
  "source": "Natural Resources Wales",
  "designation_type": "national_nature_reserve",
  "name": "Newborough Warren National Nature Reserve",
  "name_cy": "Gwarchodfa Natur Genedlaethol Cwningar Niwbwrch",
  "designated_date": "1955-01-01",
  "amended_date": null,
  "date_precision": "year",
  "local_authority": "Isle of Anglesey",
  "area_hectares": 634.5,
  "source_url": "https://naturalresources.wales/days-out/places-to-visit/north-west-wales/newborough-warren-national-nature-reserve",
  "centroid": { "lat": 53.1486, "lng": -4.3702 },
  "licence": "OGL v3.0",
  "attribution": "© Natural Resources Wales, Open Government Licence v3.0"
}

Use cases

What people build with it

Site due diligence

Check whether a development site falls inside or next to a National or Local Nature Reserve before committing to a land deal.

Developers

Planning constraint checks

Add statutory reserve boundaries to a constraints layer so applications near protected habitat are flagged early.

Planners

Environmental screening

Screen a portfolio against NNR and LNR proximity for ESG and biodiversity reporting, using one consistent national source.

Investors

Valuation risk context

Tell a valuer when a property abuts a statutory reserve, where access, amenity and constraint can affect value.

Surveyors

Underwriting context

Use reserve proximity as a contextual signal when underwriting rural or edge-of-settlement risk.

Insurers