Data Zone
Country/territory: United Kingdom
IBA criteria met: A4iii, B1i, B2, C2, C3, C4, C6 (2007)
For more information about IBA criteria, please click here
Area: 4,668 ha
| IBA conservation status | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year of assessment (most recent) | Threat (pressure) | Condition (state) | Action (response) |
| 2007 | high | very unfavourable | low |
| For more information about IBA monitoring, please click here | |||
Site description (baseline)
The Medway estuary forms a single tidal system with the Swale and joins the Thames estuary between the Isle of Grain and Sheerness. It has a complex arrangement of tidal channels, which drain around large islands of saltmarsh and grazing-marsh. The mudflats support extensive beds of algae and eel-grass Zostera. The IBA is important for wintering and passage wildfowl. Terns and gulls breed on saltmarsh islands, and wildfowl breed on the grazing-marshes.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2023) Important Bird Area factsheet: Medway Estuary and Marshes. Downloaded from
http://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/2536 on 10/06/2023.
