• Summary
• Text account
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• Reference and further resources

Site description (2000 baseline)
A large, very sheltered sea bay with several river estuaries situated in County Cork. Intertidal mudflats are extensive with some areas of saltmarsh. There are three to four adjoining small freshwater or brackish lagoons and two large areas of open water, Lough Mahon and Lower Harbour, which are separated by Great Island. Large centres of human habitation lie adjacent to this site, including Cork city, which is a major port. Cork harbour and port form the largest industrial area on Ireland's south coast.

Key biodiversity
Cork Harbour regularly supports over 20,000 waterfowl. It is one of the most important sites in Ireland for breeding Sterna hirundo and for wintering Podiceps cristatus (286 birds, 1996), Mergus serrator (133 birds, 1996), Haematopus ostralegus (1,364 birds, 1995) and Vanellus vanellus (15,400 birds, 1995), as well as for staging Numenius phaeopus (3,304 birds, 1979). Several other species also occur in numbers of national importance, including Phalacrocorax carbo (991 birds, 1996), Tadorna tadorna (2,167 birds, 1986), Anas penelope (2,601 birds, 1995), Anas crecca (1,418 birds, 1996) and Pluvialis apricaria (4,431 birds, 1995).

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Cork Harbour (Ireland). Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/cork-harbour-iba-ireland on 27/12/2024.