Sites index

Coastal vegetated shingle is a relatively restricted habitat. The major distribution patterns are shown for each of the following:

• world-wide distribution (it occurs most extensively towards the poles);
• in Europe it is concentrated in the north and west;
• Great Britain, which supports a particularly high proportion of the total European resource.

Because of its significance and rarity in Great Britain, most of the larger examples of coastal vegetated shingle are protected. Maps showing the protected areas are provided for England, Scotland and Wales, click on the map opposite.

Many of the sites are designated as Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Several of these are also candidate Special Areas of Conservation.