Welcome to the British Isles Nature Reserves Web ring. This is a set of directly linked Web sites dealing with inland or marine nature reserves.

The purpose of the ring is to help you find other reserves without resorting to directories or search engines. We hope it will also entice you to visit the reserves themselves.

The ring connects the Web sites the way a string connects the pearls on a necklace. Each 'pearl', or Web site, is separate. It is owned and run by someone connected with that reserve - such as a reserve owner, manager or volunteer. All we do here is make sure the string stays in one piece.

We also try to get more pearls on it, because the more Web sites there are in the ring the more useful it will be.

So, please, enjoy yourself by looking at the various sites on the ring. You can look at them in sequence - in either direction - or can pick them out from the list here. And, if one of the reserves is near you or where you are going, do please pay it a visit.

For Web site owners

Joining the ring is easy. Just click on the right hand link at the bottom of this page and follow the instructions on the new page. It takes just a few minutes.

Once you've put the code for the linker on your chosen page, we'll join you to the ring. (If the code's not there, the ring becomes a linear chain.)

There's no fee, no advertising, no 'spam' and no commitment to do anything other than carry the Web ring insignia on the relevant page of your Web site.

Oh, and in case you're wondering whether your site is eligible, we define nature reserves as:
1. (for inland reserves) a piece of publicly or privately held land deliberately managed to give a protected open-air home to native plants and animals. That land can be with or without water.
2. (for marine reserves) a piece of publicly or privately held water, shore and/or seabed that gives a protected home to native plants and animals.

Yours does not have to be an 'official' site to be suitable. Although most sites listed have been set up for the owners or managers of reserves, several are run by volunteers who work on those reserves or by people who are simply interested in them. Most reserves described in members' Web sites are open to the public but this also is not compulsory.

Click on the relevant link below if you would like to see what sites are already in the ring, or to join the ring.