Current view: Text account
Site description (2000 baseline):
Site location and context
A delta (growing in the direction of Szczeciñski lagoon) which contains natural and artificial channels of the Œwina river, with numerous islands. The site also covers the south-west coast of Wolin island and the south-east part of Uznam island adjoining the Piastowski channel. The plant community is very rich. Most of the forest is old-growth (130-150 years), dominated by alder
Alnus, mixed birch/oak
Betula/
Quercus and beech/oak
Fagus/
Quercus. Open areas are dominated by saltmarsh, rush
Scirpus and reedbeds
Phragmites. The latter completely cover some islets and almost all shores of the other islands. A very small area is used as arable land.
A very attractive area for breeding, migrating and wintering birds with very rich food sources available. Breeding species of global conservation concern that do not meet IBA criteria:
Crex crex (two pairs). A total of 140 bird species have been recorded breeding.
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
Threats include the expansion of reedbeds onto saltmarsh following reductions in grazing, and unsuitable forestry practices (clear-cutting). Birds are disturbed by fishermen, tourism and forestry. Eggs of
Larus argentatus are sometimes stolen from the colonies (probably by fox farmers), causing disturbance to birds. A part of the IBA (Karsiborska Kêpa, 180 ha) is managed by OTOP (the concept of `private reserve' does not exist in current Polish law). OTOP projects here are: (1) Distribution, numbers and habitat selection of
Acrocephalus paludicola (as part of a wider BirdLife International project); (2) action plan for plant community; (3) permanent study of bird numbers and distribution. Projects by the West Pomeranian Ornithological Society include inventory of breeding and migrating birds (June-August 1995).
National Partial
International None2,000 ha of IBA covered by National Park (Woliñski, 10,937 ha).
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Delta of the Swina river (Poland). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/delta-of-the-swina-river-iba-poland on 23/12/2024.
