LV020
Engure lake


Country/territory: Latvia

IBA criteria met: B2, C2, C3, C4, C6 (2004)
For more information about IBA criteria, please click here

Area: 12,726 ha

Latvijas Ornitologijas Biedriba

Site description (2004 baseline)
The shallow and heavily eutrophic Engure lake is the largest coastal lagoon in Latvia. Apart from seven permanent islands it is covered by vast expanses of emergent vegetation (mainly Phragmites, Typha and Scirpus) covering about 65% of the lake's surface. It is surrounded by a complex of fens, and mixed and coniferous forests. The site also includes dry pine forests, beaches and coastal meadows along the Riga gulf. Included in the first European IBA inventory [3] and all subsequent site lists [4, 5, 1]. Fully protected: there is a 99.5% overlap with Engure lake nature park, a candidate SPA.


Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Engure lake. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/engure-lake-iba-latvia on 19/03/2024.