The United Kingdom Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) is the governmental response to the Convention on Biological Diversity

Convention on Biological Diversity

The Convention on Biological Diversity , known informally as the Biodiversity Convention, is an international legally binding treaty...

 signed in 1992. When the Biodiversity Action Plan

Biodiversity Action Plan

A Biodiversity Action Plan is an internationally recognized program addressing threatened species and habitats and is designed to protect and restore biological systems. The original impetus for these plans derives from the 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity...

s were first published in 1994, the conservation of 391 species and 45 habitats was covered. 1,150 species and 65 habitats are identified as needing conservation and greater protection and are covered by UK BAPs. The updated list includes the hedgehog

Hedgehog

A hedgehog is any of the spiny mammals of the subfamily Erinaceinae and the order Erinaceomorpha. There are 17 species of hedgehog in five genera, found through parts of Europe, Asia, Africa, and New Zealand . There are no hedgehogs native to Australia, and no living species native to the Americas...

, house sparrow

House Sparrow

The House Sparrow is a bird of the sparrow family Passeridae, found in most parts of the world. One of about 25 species in the genus Passer, the House Sparrow occurs naturally in most of Europe, the Mediterranean region, and much of Asia...

, grass snake

Grass Snake

The grass snake , sometimes called the ringed snake or water snake is a European non-venomous snake. It is often found near water and feeds almost exclusively on amphibians.-Etymology:...

 and the garden tiger moth

Garden tiger moth

The garden tiger moth is a moth of the Arctiidae family.It has a wingspan of . The design of the wings varies: the front wings are brown with a white pattern , the back wings orange with a pattern of black dots. The conspicuous patterns serve as a warning to predators, because the moth's body...

, while otter

Otter

The Otters are twelve species of semi-aquatic mammals which feed on fish and shellfish, and also other invertebrates, amphibians, birds and small mammals....

s, bottlenose dolphin

Bottlenose Dolphin

Bottlenose dolphins, the genus Tursiops, are the most common and well-known members of the family Delphinidae, the family of oceanic dolphins. Recent molecular studies show the genus contains two species, the common bottlenose dolphin and the Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin , instead of one...

s and red squirrel

Red Squirrel

The red squirrel or Eurasian red squirrel is a species of tree squirrel in the genus Sciurus common throughout Eurasia...

s remained in need of habitat protection.

There are also about 188 Local BAPs (LBAPs) in the UK.

Priority habitats

• River
  River
  A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including...
  
  s
• Oligotrophic and dystrophic Lakes
• Pond
  Pond
  A pond is a body of standing water, either natural or man-made, that is usually smaller than a lake. A wide variety of man-made bodies of water are classified as ponds, including water gardens, water features and koi ponds; all designed for aesthetic ornamentation as landscape or architectural...
  
  s
• Mesotrophic lakes
• Eutrophic standing waters
• Aquifer fed naturally fluctuating water bodies
• Arable field margins
• Hedgerows
• Traditional orchards
• Wood-pasture and parkland
• Upland oakwood
• Lowland beech and yew woodland
• Upland mixed ashwoods
• Wet woodland
  Wet woodland
  Wet woodland is a biodiversity habitat in the United Kingdom.This is a woodland that occurs on poorly drained or seasonally wet soils. They are typical of river valley, the surroundings of mires and raised bog, the transition zones between open water and drier ground, and beside small winding...
  
  
• Lowland mixed deciduous woodland
• Upland birchwoods
• Native pine woodlands
• Lowland dry acid grassland
• Lowland calcareous grassland
• Upland calcareous grassland
• Lowland meadows
• Upland hay meadows
• Coastal and floodplain grazing marsh
• Lowland heathland
• Upland heathland
• Upland flushes, fens and swamps
• Purple moor grass and rush pastures
• Lowland fens
• Reedbeds
• Lowland raised bog
• Blanket bog
  Blanket bog
  Blanket bog or blanket mire is an area of peatland, forming where there is a climate of high rainfall and a low level of evapotranspiration, allowing peat to develop not only in wet hollows but over large expanses of undulating ground. The blanketing of the ground with a variable depth of peat...
  
  
• Mountain heaths and willow scrub
• Inland rock outcrop and scree habitats
• Calaminarian grasslands
• Open mosaic habitats on previously developed land
• Limestone pavement
  Limestone pavement
  A limestone pavement is a natural karst landform consisting of a flat, incised surface of exposed limestone that resembles an artificial pavement. The term is mainly used in the UK where many of these landforms have developed distinctive surface patterning resembling block of paving...
  
  
• Maritime cliff and slopes
• Coastal vegetated shingle
• Machair
• Coastal sand dunes
• Intertidal chalk
• Intertidal boulder communities
• Sabellaria alveolata reefs
• Coastal saltmarsh
• Intertidal mudflats
• Seagrass beds
• Sheltered muddy gravels
• Peat and clay exposures
• Subtidal chalk
• Tide-swept channels
• Fragile sponge & anthozoan communities on subtidal rocky habitats
• Estuarine rocky habitats
• Seamount communities
• Carbonate mounds
• Cold-water coral reefs
• Deep-sea sponge communities
• Sabellaria spinulosa reefs
• Subtidal sands and gravels
• Horse mussel beds
• Mud habitats in deep water
• File shell beds
• Maerl beds
• Serpulid reefs
• Blue mussel beds
• Saline lagoons