Blasket Islands (Ireland) IBA | Details

IE073

Blasket Islands

Current view: Data table and detailed info

IBA Justification

The site was identified as internationally important for bird conservation in 2009 because it was regularly supporting significant populations of the species listed below, meeting ('triggering') IBA criteria.

Populations meeting IBA criteria ('trigger species') at the site:

Species	Red List	Season (year/s of estimate)	Size	IBA criteria
European Storm-petrel Hydrobates pelagicus	LC	breeding (2000)	31,550–36,124 pairs	A4ii, B1ii, B3, C2, C6
Manx Shearwater Puffinus puffinus	LC	breeding (2000)	10,883–29,844 pairs	A4ii, B1ii, B2, C3
Great Black-backed Gull Larus marinus	LC	breeding (1999)	114 pairs	B3
A4iii Species group - seabirds	n/a	breeding (1999–2001)	50,000-99,999	A4iii, C4

IBA Conservation

Ideally the conservation status of the IBA will have been checked regularly since the site was first identified in 2009. The most recent assessment (2013) is shown below.

IBA conservation assessment
Year of assessment	State	Pressure	Response
2013	not assessed	very high	low
Whole site assessed?	State assessed by	Accuracy of information
yes	unset	unknown

Pressure (threats to the trigger species and/or their habitats)
Threat	Timing	Scope	Severity	Result
Human intrusions and disturbance	happening now	whole of population/area (>90%)	rapid decline (>30% over 3 generations)	very high
Invasive and other problematic species and genes	happening now	whole of population/area (>90%)	rapid decline (>30% over 3 generations)	very high
Transportation and service corridors	happening now	whole of population/area (>90%)	rapid decline (>30% over 3 generations)	very high

Response (conservation actions taken for the trigger species and/or their habitats)
Designation	Planning	Action	Result
Whole area (>90%) covered by appropriate conservation designation	No management planning has taken place	Some limited conservation initiatives are in place	low

IBA Protection

Year	Protected Area	Designation (management category)	% coverage of IBA
1989	Tearaght Island	Nature Reserve (IV)	3
1989	Terraght Island (Marine)	Nature Reserve (-)	2
2009	Blasket IslandS	Marine Protected Area (OSPAR) (UA)	100

Habitats

Habitat	% of IBA	Habitat detail
Grassland	50	Dry siliceous grassland
Marine Coastal/Supratidal	50

Land use

Land use	% of IBA
not utilised	80
tourism/recreation	20

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Blasket Islands (Ireland). Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/blasket-islands-iba-ireland on 24/12/2024.