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Site Monitoring
Funded by Natural England and the Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund, during the winter of 2009 - 2010 all 60 Local Geological Sites listed by the Wiltshire Geology Group originally as Regionally Important Geological / Geomorphological Sites (RIGS) will have been visited and their condition monitored.
These sites, although designated RIGS or LGS (local geological sites) as they are now called, have no legal protection, ie. landowners have no obligation to conserve them; and the public have no right to go and look at them: interested parties need to gain permission if they wish to visit, unless they are on public footpaths or open access areas (as many are). Even then, in summer especially, overgrown vegetation can make access difficult.
The information is held on the Wiltshire and Swindon Biological Records Centre (WSBRC) database. WSBRC provide a data enquiry service on their website: www.wsbrc.org.uk where the public can obtain site maps and basic site attributes. Site boundary Geographical Information System (GIS) data is also held by Natural England, Wiltshire Council, Swindon Borough Council, the Environment Agency Wessex Water, and the New Forest National Park Authority. Any additional, more detailed, information is held by the Wiltshire Geology Group.
A pilot study looking at the soils on selected sites was part of the project, adding to the skills of the Wiltshire Geology Group. Training was provided by experts in the field.
This re-visiting of local sites means we can recommend the most interesting sites to visit in Wiltshire; these include the Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) which are looked after by Natural England - listed and described on their website: www.naturalengland.org.uk
Top Sites to Visit
For a list of top sites to visit click here