(sorry, this was supposed to be a question and it ended as a mini-rant)

SSSI? Is anyone aware of where a definitive list of UK Sites of Special Scientific Interest sites can be found?

I was at St Nectan's Glen a few weeks ago and regrettably I think this will be my last visit there. I have been visiting the glen for over ten years, back when it used to be an owl sanctuary, and it's current state is terrible. I felt that the current owners attitude seemed to be more in-line with a tollkeeper at a gate rather than custodians.

Last year Rocky Valley went through the same storm as Boscastle, even now the damage is evident along the valley after the regrowth of plants and replacing swept away bridges. The path meanders over areas that were a few feet away from the old path, rocks have been tumbled along with trees and there are some deep pools which provide ideal moments for children to throw pebbles into. The walk is still refreshing under the canopy of trees and its micro-climate. If anyone remembers the two large firs at the top of the valley, near the Trethevy end of the path, these blew down earlier this year.

I don't think the storm affected the site too much, where the water pours into the valley looks as though it has had a dose of salts and is better for it. Much of the debris left by years of visitors was gone and once again there were little piles of cairns appearing along the stream sides, along with more gifts and tokens, which is to be expected around such a cool site. Walking from the hermitage to the glen is a short walk, it is great as you cannot see anything until the very last steps. The waterfall appearing on the left only when you are in the glen itself.

I was disappointed with the signs for visitors; 'Children are not allowed in the meditation room, so don't even bother asking', was a classic. The other advising that this glen was in the top ten British SSSI sites was another as it seems near impossible to find this list.

I was quite upset with the graffiti. It would be unrealistic to not expect some rock carving of names, there are dates from the 1930's around the glen, but at the moment there is hardly a surface where someone hasn't just scratched their names in with a piece of slate, barely cutting the rock but scratching away moss, dirt, etc. This is all around the walls, there has been an abandonment of care there. This is just vandalism. What protection does the SSSI afford these places? Are the owners accountable for state it is in?