Condition of habitats
The information on habitat condition set out in the Health check section on the habitat pages is taken from SSSI and County Wildlife Site monitoring. More information on this is provided below.
SSSI monitoring
Natural England undertakes monitoring of SSSIs and provided a table of the latest condition data in November 2025 – SSSI condition data
More detailed information for each SSSI can be found on the NE designated sites view
See the Viewer for a map showing SSSI condition (Other Useful Layers>SSSI Condition Assessments).
County Wildlife Site monitoring
There are ~ 2,300 County Wildlife SItes (CWS) across Devon. Devon Biodiversity Records Centre (DBRC) is funded by Devon County Council and Devon Wildlife Trust to undertake monitoring of County Wildlife Sites across Devon. DBRC provided a summary of the latest data in November 2025. CWS condition monitoring
More information on County Wildlife Sites in Devon (including designation criteria) can be found on DBRC’s website – County Wildlife Sites – DBRC. For details of individual CWS please contact DBRC.
National targets
This table sets out relevant national nature and environment targets (including some useful links) and how the Devon LNRS has been developed to help achieve them. Devon LNRS relevant national environmental targets.
This table includes links to information on the 30×30 target carried out for the Devon LNRS by Natural England as part of their national work on protected landscapes.
Monitoring of the LNRS
Defra and Natural England are developing a monitoring framework for LNRSs. This page will be updated when information is available.
Other relevant information
Habitat classification:
A few of the habitat pages in the LNRS (largely wildlife-rich grasslands and heaths, bogs and mires) refer to detailed habitat classification systems. For more information on this see the Devon LNRS Habitat Classification table.
Useful links:
- UKHab: The UK Habitat Classification System is a new(ish) system that has been designed to incorporate the previous UK habitat classifications. This system is now used for national schemes such as Biodiversity Net Gain. For more information see the UKHab website.
- UK Priority Habitats / habitats of principal importance: Habitats considered to be under threat in the UK due to their rarity or decline and also known as habitats of principal importance (under Section 41 of the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act). See GOV.UK for more details.
- NVC: National Vegetation Classification system was published in the 1990s. It identifies 286 plant communities which are divided into 12 major habitat types such as ‘woodlands and scrub’, ‘heaths’ and ‘grasslands’. This system is set out in the British Plant Communities series (Volumes 1-5). Some of the Volumes are available on the web. See the JNCC website for more details.