Type the text that you wish to search for in the text box. The search is not case sensitive, so you can use lower case, capital letters or a mixture. The Search Facility will look for matches in the names of all of the searchable layers.

If the text you enter is a part of the name (or postcode), that item will be listed, so you don't have to enter the full name of a site to find it. However, the shorter the text you search for, the more matches you will get!

You can now also search on British National Grid references, using the following formats:

• TL1234
• TL123456
• TL12345678

or full comma-separated Eastings and Northings in BNG metres, eg 123456,234567

The Search Facility returns the first 10 matches from each searchable layer. If more are available, you can request them.

You will see above the list of matched features that the Search Facility is set to "Show that feature on the map". You can alternatively select "Using our Sites Search wizard, find nature conservation and other features near that feature", or search again.

If you leave the choice at "Show that feature on the map" then when you click on an item in the list the map will appear and display it, highlighted in yellow. Place names will be displayed at an approximate scale of 1:50,000, postcodes at approx. 1:5,000. Other features will be displayed at a scale that just allows the entire site or feature to fill the map image.

If you choose to "Find nature conservation sites near that feature." then, when you click on an item in the list, you will be presented with the Sites Search Wizard. If the feature you selected was a place name or a postcode, you can choose a distance (10, 20, 30, 40 or 50km) within which to search for any designated sites. If the feature you selected was another type of feature, such as a county, you will simply search for designated sites that overlap it. For example, you may wish to find all the National Nature Reserves that fall within 40km of your village, or all the Sites of Special Scientific Interest that overlap with Norfolk, using this facility.

Certain commonly used key words or abbreviations are ignored in the searches because where used in search strings they would find no matches, as the words are not held in the database records. The list of these words is currently as follows: SSSI, NNR, SAC, SPA, Ramsar, site, nature reserve.

The list of map layers you can search on is:

• Postcodes
• Place names (Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 scale Gazetteer) - NB: Farm names are NOT comprehensively recorded; only those that are present on 1:50,000 (Landranger) OS maps are listed.
• BNG references (eg TL1234, TL123456, TL12345678 or comma-separated eastings,northings)
• Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) Target Area names
• Agri-environment Scheme (Environmental Stewardship, Countryside Stewardship, or Environmentally Sensitive Areas) agreement reference numbers or customer names
• National Nature Reserves (NNRs)
• Local Nature Reserves (when available) (LNRs)
• Country Parks
• Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs)
• Special Protection Areas (SPAs)
• Special Areas for Conservation (SACs)
• Ramsar Sites
• National Character Areas (NCAs)
• Natural England Area Teams
• Natural Areas
• Unitary Authorities
• London Boroughs
• Civil Parishes
• County and Metropolitan Districts
• Westminster Parliamentary Constituencies
• Counties

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