Connemara Islands (578)
Ireland, Europe
Site overview
KBA status: confirmed
Year of last assessment: 2024
National site name: Connemara Islands
Central coordinates: Latitude: 53.3197, Longitude: -9.8842
System: terrestrial, marine
Elevation (m): 0 to 63
Area of KBA (km2): 591.65276
Protected area coverage (%): 40.45
KBA classification: Regional
Legacy site: Yes
Site details
Site description: This very large site encompasses many small islands and islets stretching from Slyne Head (Illaunamid Island) south-eastwards via Ballyconneely, Bertraghboy and Kilkieran Bay as far as Greatman's Bay. Several IBAs which were treated separately in Grimmett and Jones (1989) have been combined to form this site, including Eeshal Island (formerly IE041), Horse Island (formerly IE042), Hen Island (formerly IE043), Oilean Geabhrog (formerly IE045), Oilean nan Geabhrog (formerly IE046), Duck Island (formerly IE047) and Geabhrog Island (formerly IE048). The site also includes surrounding waters, covering a sea area up to 5km off the mainland, along a coast of 40km in length.
Rationale for qualifying as KBA: This group of islands supports some of the most important colonies of breeding terns <i style="font-style: normal;">Sterna</i>, especially <i style="font-style: normal;">Sterna paradisaea</i>, in Ireland and is also an important winter feeding site for <i style="font-style: normal;">Branta leucopsis. </i>Other b<span style="font-style: normal; font-size: 10pt;">reeding seabirds meeting IBA criteria include European Herring Gull (Larus argentatus), Great Black-backed Gull (Larus marinus), Little Tern (Sternula albifrons), Common Tern (Sterna hirundo), Arctic Tern (Sterna paradisaea), Sandwich Tern (Thalasseus sandvicensis), Black Guillemot (Cepphus grylle).</span><div style="font-style: normal;"><br>For details regarding these other species, where population numbers don't currently meet IBA criteria, please see the project report from Auchincloss and Handley (2024), or the records associated with 'Populations' in BirdLife's WBDB. This is an existing IBA, where the boundary has been updated slightly to include the bay to the east, which hosts the Lobinish site, and one of the five largest sites for Sandwich Terns. Overall, the site encompasses many small islands and islets stretching from Slyne Head (Illaunamid Island) south-eastwards via Ballyconneely, Bertraghboy and Kilkieran Bay. Several IBAs were treated separately in earlier pan-European inventory (Grimmett and Jones 1989). The large site reflects a merge of these smaller sites which were: Eeshal Island (formerl IE041), Horse Island (formerlyy IE042), Hen Island (formerly IE043), Oilean Geabhrog (formerly IE045), Oilean nan Geabhrog (formerly IE046), Duck Island (formerly IE047) and Geabhrog Island (formerly IE048). The site also includes surrounding waters, covering a sea area which supports foraging grounds for species.</div>
Manageability of the site: Site identified based on BirdLife International's Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas, under which manageability is strongly recommended but not explicitly documented
Habitats
| IUCN Habitat | Coverage % | Habitat detail |
|---|---|---|
| Grassland | 10 | |
| Marine Neritic | 80 |
Threats
Summary of threats to biodiversity at KBA: Fishing in surrounding waters may deplete the prey stock of seabirds, with implications for their breeding success, while increasing tourism (trips to the islands) may lead to disturbance of nesting terns. The site overlaps with a proposed Special Protection Area (Slyne Head, 1,514 ha).<p></p>
Additional information
References: Auchincloss & Handley, 2024. Ireland: Important Bird and Biodiversity Area identification for seabirds (Report).<br><br>Beal, Martin, Steffen Oppel, Jonathan Handley, Elizabeth J. Pearmain, Virginia Morera-Pujol, Ana P. B. Carneiro, Tammy E. Davies, et al. ‘track2KBA: An R Package for Identifying Important Sites for Biodiversity from Tracking Data’. Methods in Ecology and Evolution 12, no. 12 (December 2021): 2372–78. https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.13713.<br><br>Critchley, Emma Jane, W. James Grecian, Adam Kane, Mark J. Jessopp, and John L. Quinn. ‘Marine Protected Areas Show Low Overlap with Projected Distributions of Seabird Populations in Britain and Ireland’. Biological Conservation 224 (August 2018): 309–17. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2018.06.007.<br><br>Giralt Paradell, O., Cañadas, A., Bennison, A., Todd, N., Jessopp, M., Rogan, E. (2024). Aerial surveys of cetaceans and seabirds in Irish waters: Occurrence, distribution and abundance in 2021-2023. Department of the Environment, Climate & Communications and Department of Housing, Local Government & Heritage, Ireland. 260pp<br><br>Handley, Jonathan, Marie-Morgane Rouyer, Elizabeth J. Pearmain, Victoria Warwick-Evans, Katharina Teschke, Jefferson T. Hinke, Heather Lynch, et al. ‘Marine Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas for Penguins in Antarctica, Targets for Conservation Action’. Frontiers in Marine Science 7 (20 January 2021): 602972. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2020.602972.
Contributors: Site identified based on Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas by the BirdLife International Partnership