Suffolk Wildlife Trust (SWT) describes itself as the county's "nature charity – the only organisation dedicated wholly to safeguarding Suffolk's wildlife and countryside." It is a registered charity, and its headquarters is at Brooke House in Ashbocking, near Ipswich. It was founded in 1961,About us , Suffolk Wildlife Trust. Retrieved 3 March 2014. and is one of 46 wildlife trusts covering Great Britain and Northern Ireland. As of March 2017, it has 13,200 members, and it manages of land in 60 nature reserves, most of which are open to the public. It had an income of £3.9 million in the year to 31 March 2017.
Suffolk is a county in East Anglia. It is bounded by Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west, Essex to the south and the North Sea to the east. With an area of , it is the eighth largest county in England, and in mid-2016 the population was 745,000. The top level of local government is Suffolk County Council, and below it are five borough and district councils: Babergh, Ipswich, Mid Suffolk, East Suffolk, West Suffolk. Much of the coast consists of the estuaries of the Orwell, Stour, Alde, Deben and Blyth rivers, with large areas of wetlands and marshes. Agriculture and shipping play a major role in the county's economy.
The whole or part of nine SWT reserves are Ramsar internationally important wetland sites, thirty-one are Sites of Special Scientific Interest, four are national nature reserves, ten are Special Protection Areas, ten are Special Areas of Conservation, seven are Nature Conservation Review sites, one contains a scheduled monument and three are local nature reserves. One SWT reserve is in Dedham Vale, which is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), and seven are in another AONB, Suffolk Coast and Heaths.
Key
Public access No = no public access to site FP = public access to footpaths through the site PL = public access at limited times PP = public access to part of site Yes = public access to the whole or most of the site
Other classifications DVAONB = Dedham Vale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty GCR = Geological Conservation Review LNR = Local nature reserve
NCR = Nature Conservation Review NNR = National nature reserve NT = National Trust Ramsar = Ramsar site, an internationally important wetland site SAC = Special Area of Conservation SCHAONB = Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty SM = Scheduled monument SPA = Special Protection Area under the European Union Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds SSSI = Site of Special Scientific Interest
Sites