DTE South West: About our ranges
At over 38,000 hectares, Salisbury Plain is the UK’s largest training area, measuring roughly 25 miles by 10 miles.
DTE Salisbury Plain offers live firing and other facilities for armoured vehicles, artillery, engineers, infantry and aircraft. The training ‘village’ at Copehill Down used to prepare troops for operations in built-up areas.
The use of Salisbury Plain as a military training area has preserved a substantial archaeological landscape dating back some 6,000 years. There are about 2,300 monuments, 550 of which are protected by law. Some 50,000 acres (20,200 hectares) of the training area constitute Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and remain home to a wealth of rare species of fauna and flora already lost in other parts of the country. There are approximately 6,000 acres (2,500 hectares) of woodland which are used for training, and new woodland is planted each year.
Other sites across the South West region, include:
Dartmoor training area
Much of Dartmoor National Park’s moorland is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), with the UK’s richest collection of prehistoric remains. Birds include kestrels, buzzards, peregrine falcons and ravens. Fish include brown trout, sea trout and salmon.
Penhale Camp and Bodmin Moor training area
This contains the highest dunes in Britain. Perran Sands is an SSSI and a Special Area of Conservation (SAC). The dunes have four very rare plant species; protected insects and molluscs; 19 rare species of mosses and lichens; and 134 butterflies and moths.
Tregantle Fort and Antony training area
This peninsula combines coast, estuary and countryside. Rame Head and Whitsand Bay are important SSSIs. The cliffs have one of the largest UK colonies of the rare shore dock. Wacker Quay is frequented by little egrets and avocets. Spotted redshanks and green sandpipers may also be seen.
Wyke Regis training area
Chesil Bank is a World Heritage Site with a lagoon. Fossils, rare plants and insects can be found here. It is a key breeding site for little terns and ringed plovers. The lagoon has some 150 species of algae plus invertebrates and semi-aquatic molluscs.