Key Biodiversity Areas

Innstavogsnes-Grunnafjördur (503)
Iceland, Europe

Site overview


KBA status: confirmed
Year of last assessment: 2015
National site name: Innstavogsnes-Grunnafjörður
Central coordinates: Latitude: 64.3667, Longitude: -21.9167
System: marine, terrestrial
Elevation (m): 0 to 20
Area of KBA (km2): 23.88909
Protected area coverage (%): 67.56
KBA classification: Regional
Legacy site: Yes

Site details


Site description: Estuarine bays lying 10 km north-east of the town of Akranes, with small offshore islands, beaches and intertidal flats. Eider husbandry (Somateria mollissima) is practised (`Other' land-use).
Rationale for qualifying as KBA: This site qualifies as a Key Biodiversity Area of international significance that was identified using previously established criteria and thresholds for the identification of Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBAs) and for which available data indicate that it does not meet global KBA criteria and thresholds set out in the Global Standard.
Additional biodiversity: There are also notable numbers of staging Haematopus ostralegus (1,000-2,000), Pluvialis apricaria (a few thousand), Calidris alpina and Charadrius hiaticula.

Habitats


Land use: agriculture
IUCN HabitatCoverage %Habitat detail
Marine Intertidal50
Marine Coastal/Supratidal50

Threats


Summary of threats to biodiversity at KBA: The area was known as Leirárvogar in the previous international IBA inventory (Grimmett and Jones 1989), but the name Grunnafjördur is now preferred.