Site of Special Scientific Interest | |
![]() Pegwell Bay | |
Location | Kent |
---|---|
Grid reference | TR 352 592 [1] |
Interest | Biological Geological |
Area | 1,790.1 hectares (4,423 acres) [1] |
Notification | 1993 [1] |
Location map | Magic Map |
Sandwich Bay to Hacklinge Marshes is a 1,790.1-hectare (4,423-acre) biological and geological Site of Special Scientific Interest which stretches between Deal and Sandwich in Kent. [1] [2] It includes two Geological Conservation Review sites, [3] [4] and most of it is a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade I. [5] Part of it is a Ramsar site, [6] a Special Area of Conservation, [7] [8] a Special Protection Area [9] and a National Nature Reserve, [10] [11] It also includes a Kent Wildlife Trust nature reserve [12] and a Local Nature Reserve, [13]
This site has over 30 plant species and 168 invertebrates which are nationally rare and nationally scarce, and several wintering birds are present in nationally important numbers. It is also a geologically important site, with diverse fish fossils dating to the Thanetian around 57 million years ago. [14]