Data Zone
Country/territory: Finland
IBA criteria met: B1i, B2, B3, C2, C6 (2000)
For more information about IBA criteria, please click here
Area: 519 ha
| IBA conservation status | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year of assessment (most recent) | Threat (pressure) | Condition (state) | Action (response) |
| 2010 | high | very unfavourable | high |
| For more information about IBA monitoring, please click here | |||
Site description (baseline)
Siikalahti Bay, one of the most famous wetlands in Finland, is a sheltered, shallow bay of Simpele lake. It is heavily vegetated with Phragmites, Typha and floating plants like Nymphaea, with open water constituting no more than 25% of the lake area. Eutrophication is mostly due to the input of large amounts of nutrient run-off from adjacent farmlands and sewage disposal from nearby settlements. Sammallampi lake, connected to Siikalahti Bay via the Simpele lake water system, is a small eutrophic lake surrounded by farmlands and forests. The vegetation is similar to Siikalahti, but overgrowth does not pose a significant threat in the near future.
Key biodiversity
Very important for wetland breeding birds. Species of global conservation concern that do not meet IBA criteria: Anser erythropus (max. 1, passage), Crex crex (1 pair, breeding).
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2023) Important Bird Area factsheet: Siikalahti bay and Sammallampi lake. Downloaded from
http://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/1310 on 07/06/2023.
