Lee-on-The Solent to Itchen Estuary is a biological and geological Site of Special Scientific Interest which stretches along the coast between

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

and Gosport in

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...

. It is a

Geological Conservation Review The Geological Conservation Review (GCR) is produced by the UK's Joint Nature Conservation Committee and is designed to identify those sites of national and international importance needed to show all the key scientific elements of the geological ...

site. It is part of Solent and Southampton Water Ramsar site and

Special Protection Area A Special Protection Area (SPA) is a designation under the European Union Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds. Under the Directive, Member States of the European Union (EU) have a duty to safeguard the habitats of migratory birds and certa ...

, and of Solent Maritime

Special Area of Conservation A Special Area of Conservation (SAC) is defined in the European Union's Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC), also known as the ''Directive on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora''. They are to protect the 220 habitats and a ...

. Three areas are Local Nature Reserves,

Chessel Bay Chessel Bay is a Local Nature Reserve on the east bank of the River Itchen in Southampton in Hampshire. It is owned and managed by Southampton City Council. It is part of Solent and Southampton Water Ramsar site and Special Protection Area, ...

, Hook with Warsash and Mercury Marshes. One area is

Hamble Common Camp Hamble Common Camp is the site of an Iron Age promontory hillfort located in Hampshire. The fort is located on ''Hamble common'' on a peninsula of land formed between Southampton Water and the River Hamble. The site was later occupied by St And ...

, a

Scheduled Monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ...

. This site is mainly intertidal muds, and there are also areas of saltmarsh, vegetated shingle, reedbeds, deciduous woodland and marshy grassland. It is outstanding for nationally scarce coastal plants, internationally important for dark-bellied geese, and nationally important for eight other species of birds, including

great crested grebe The great crested grebe (''Podiceps cristatus'') is a member of the grebe family of water birds noted for its elaborate mating display. Taxonomy The great crested grebe was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in t ...

and

ringed plover The common ringed plover or ringed plover (''Charadrius hiaticula'') is a small plover that breeds in Arctic Eurasia. The genus name ''Charadrius'' is a Late Latin word for a yellowish bird mentioned in the fourth-century Vulgate. It derives from ...

. The site is also important for

Palaeolithic The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic (), also called the Old Stone Age (from Greek: παλαιός ''palaios'', "old" and λίθος '' lithos'', "stone"), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone to ...

artefacts and the fossils of

Eocene The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes from the Ancient Greek (''ēṓs'', " ...

birds.

References

{{SSSIs Hampshire Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Hampshire Geological Conservation Review sites Ramsar sites in England Special Protection Areas in England Special Areas of Conservation in England