Data Zone
Country/territory: Ireland
IBA criteria met: -
For more information about IBA criteria, please click here
Area: 0 ha
Site description (2009 baseline)
Clew Bay is a large, west facing and shallow bay that includes Newport and Westport Bays. It is mostly comprised of mud, sand, beds of marl, cobbles and boulders, and large areas are exposed at low tide. This site is open to the westerly swells and winds from the Atlantic Ocean. The complex series of interlocking bays and islands create a wide variety of marine and terrestrial habitats, including lagoon, salt-meadows and shifting dunes.
Key biodiversity
The site supports a variety of wintering waterbirds, with nationally important numbers of Mergus serrator, Charadrius hiaticula and Branta leucopsis. The site also supports breeding terns (Sterna hirundo, S. paradisaea and S. albifrons), Limosa limosa and Gavia immer, all of which are listed on Annex I of the E.U. Birds Directive.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2023) Important Bird Area factsheet: Clew Bay. Downloaded from
http://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/clew-bay-iba-ireland on 07/12/2023.
