National Nature Reserves

This collection of samples from National Nature Reserves arose from a collaboration between The Open University, Natural England and the communities local to each nature reserve during the Macro 2 Micro project.

National Nature Reserves (NNRs) are special places open to the public, showcasing the best of Britain's natural landscapes, habitats, wildlife and geology. They have been established to protect the most important species, ecosystems and rock features, providing natural laboratories for research as well as wonderful locations for schools, special interest groups and the public to experience nature.

There are over 200 National Nature Reserves in England covering more than 100,000 hectares. They range in size from almost 8,800 hectares to just 0.32 hectares (slightly larger than Westminster Abbey in London). You can see all their locations on DEFRA's Magic Map.

Fewer than 10 NNRs were originally designated primarily for their geological features. However, many NNRs designated for other aspects (wildlife, habitat or landscape) also include important and interesting geology - in many cases, the special landscape and wildlife only exist because of the underlying geology!

You can browse the samples in each NNR collection below, or you can take a lucky dip to pick a random sample from all the NNR collections - just scroll down below the collections and click the handlens.