Current view: Text account
Site description (2002 baseline):
Site location and context
O Ilhéu da Vila é um ilhéu rochoso de basalto, com acentuados declives e falésias. No seu topo e nas falésias está coberto por plantas anuais características das comunidades costeiras dos Açores e de entre as quais se destacam as espécies Não-me-esqueças,
Lotus azoricus e
Myosotis maritima. O ilhéu é desabitado, sendo no entanto visitado regularmente por pescadores e, ocasionalmente por turistas. No primeiro inventário das IBAs este sítio incluía a costa adjacente, mas presentemente este sector não suporta números de aves que justifiquem a classificação de acordo com os critérios revistos.
This site has all the species of breeding seabirds of the Azores but the Manx Shearwater. The only known site with breeding records for the Bulwer's Petrel and the Sooty Tern. This last species only have breeding records in Europe here and in the Selvagens islands in the Madeira archipelago. In some years had the largest colony of terns in the archipelago. As a curiosity, in this island only the 'cold-period' population of the Madeiran Storm Petrel can be found.
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
Goats contributed for soil erosion and loss of available habitat for breeding seabirds, but were erradicated from the islet in 1993. Capture of Cory's Shearwaters (chicks and adults) are a frequent activity of fishermen. Several studies on seabirds were made during the past years, and a management plan is under preparation for the SPA Ilhéu da Vila e Costa Adjacente. The absence of the establishment of the SPA by the regional law constitutes a weakness in its surveillance and legal protection
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Ilhéu da Vila (Portugal). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/ilhéu-da-vila-iba-portugal on 22/11/2024.
