Editing Nature reserve (section)

==== United Kingdom ====
There are some differences between the regulations for [[England]], [[Northern Ireland]], [[Scotland]] and [[Wales]], which are separately managed.

At the end of March 2004, there were 215 [[national nature reserves in England]] with a total area of {{convert|879|km2|abbr=on}}. The reserves are scattered through England, from [[Lindisfarne]] in [[Northumberland]] to [[The Lizard]] in [[Cornwall]]. Nearly every rural county has at least one. Many national nature reserves contain nationally important populations of rare [[flower]]s, [[fern]]s and [[moss]]es, [[butterflies]] and other [[insect]]s, and nesting and wintering [[bird]]s. Examples include unique [[alpine plant]]s at [[Upper Teesdale]] and the field of [[Fritillaria meleagris|snake's head fritillaries]] at [[North Meadow, Cricklade]], [[Wiltshire]].

There are now over 1,050 [[local nature reserve]]s in England. They range from windswept coastal headlands, ancient woodlands and flower-rich meadows to former inner-city railways, long-abandoned landfill sites and industrial areas now re-colonized by wildlife. In total, they cover almost {{convert|40000|ha|abbr=on}}—a natural resource which makes an important contribution to England's [[biodiversity]]. A good example is [[Rye Harbour SSSI|Rye Harbour Nature Reserve]] in East Sussex, where a network of footpaths enables visitors to explore shingle, saltmarsh, saline lagoon, reedbed, and grazing marsh habitats.

Through the Natural Heritage (Scotland) Act 1991 the Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) was established in 1992 as a government body, responsible to the Scottish Government Ministers and through them to the Scottish Parliament. At 31 March 2008, there were 65 [[national nature reserve (Scotland)|Scottish national nature reserves]] with a total area of approximately {{convert|1330|km2|abbr=on}}. Section 21 of the [[National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949]] gives local authorities the exclusive statutory power to establish a [[List of local nature reserves in Scotland|local nature reserve]] in consultation with the SNH.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.snh.org.uk |title=Scottish National Heritage (SNH) |access-date=27 October 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100318034727/http://www.snh.org.uk/ |archive-date=18 March 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref>