The Wash

The Wash

Country:
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Site number:
395
Area:
62,212.0 ha
Designation date:
30-03-1988
Coordinates:
52°56'14"N 00°17'13"E

Materials presented on this website, particularly maps and territorial information, are as-is and as-available based on available data and do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the Ramsar Convention concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

The Wash. 30/03/88; England; 62,212 ha; 52°56'N 000°17'E. Special Protection Area EC Directive; Nature Reserve, SSSI, Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Local Nature Reserve. A vast intertidal embayment incorporating one of the largest and most important areas of estuarine mudflats, sandbanks and saltmarsh in Britain. Counts of wintering waterbirds reach 320,673 individuals and include nationally and internationally important numbers of numerous species, notably up to 17,000 passerines (perching songbirds). The site is also of outstanding international importance for passage birds, notable waders, and supports various breeding birds, an important shell fishery, and the largest breeding colony in Europe of the seal Phoca vitulina. Adjoining land is used for intensive agriculture, and includes several localized industrial and residential zones. There are few public access points. Ramsar site no. 395. Most recent RIS information: 2007.
Administrative region: England
National legal designation:
  • bird sanctuary
  • nnr
  • sssi
Regional (international) legal designations:
  • EU Natura 2000
Last publication date: 01-01-2007
Ramsar Information Sheet (RIS)