The Improvement Programme for England’s Natura 2000 sites (IPENS) is supported by European Union LIFE+ funding. It is a new strategic approach to managing England’s Natura 2000 sites. These are sites that have been designated either as a Special Protection Area (SPA) due to the rare, vulnerable or migratory birds present or as a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) to protect scarce or threatened wild animals, plants or habitats.
IPENS is enabling Natural England, the Environment Agency and other key partners to plan what, how, where and when we will target our efforts on Natura 2000 sites and the areas surrounding them. As part of the programme we identified gaps in our knowledge and have commissioned a range of projects to help us fill these gaps. The project findings are being used to help develop our Theme Plans and Site Improvement Plans. This report is one of the evidence project studies we commissioned.