Current view: Text account
Site description (2000 baseline):
Site location and context
The site encompasses the largest raised bog in Lithuania (5,858 ha) with many forest `islands', small lakes and marshes, and surrounded by mostly dry
Pinus forests on sand-dunes. The bog is the source of two of the cleanest rivers in the country, the ûla and Katra. There is a very low level of land-use.
A nationally important site for breeding waders (
Pluvialis apricaria and
Tringa glareola), woodpeckers (
Picus canus, P. viridis and
Picoides tridactylus) and
Grus grus, and the most important site in Lithuania for
Gallinago media and for
Tetrao tetrix (more than 50 pairs). Breeding species of global conservation concern that do not meet IBA criteria:
Haliaeetus albicilla,
Crex crex.
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
The reserve is strictly protected and there are no real threats other than the natural colonization of the raised bog by trees, and the event of natural fire. The whole site is covered by the national IBA monitoring network.
National Partial
International Partial10,590 ha of IBA covered by Strict Nature Reserve (èepkeliai, 10,590 ha). 10,590 ha of IBA covered by Ramsar Site (èepkeliai, 10,590 ha).
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Cepkeliai Strict Nature Reserve (Lithuania). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/cepkeliai-strict-nature-reserve-iba-lithuania on 23/11/2024.
