Current view: Text account
Site description (2000 baseline):
Site location and context
A complex of seasonally-flooded forests, swamps, freshwater lakes and sand-dunes on the Black Sea coast near the Turkish-Bulgarian border. Surface water accumulation behind the dunes feeds the largely intact flooded forests, which are below sea-level. The c.10 km long pristine dune and beach system is of high botanical importance. Human activities include cattle- and sheep-grazing, small-scale freshwater fisheries and reed-cutting (`Other' land-use).
The site is also a migratory bottleneck, where more than 8,000
Ciconia ciconia regularly pass in autumn. Although no comprehensive counts have been undertaken, available data suggest that the IBA is also a bottleneck for migrating raptors.
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
ÝSKÝ plans to divert water from the nearby Istranca mountains by damming the five major streams feeding the flooded forests. Additional threats include the proposed Bulgaria-Turkey coastal highway, tourism development, deforestation to allow replanting with
Populus, illegal sand extraction and reed-cutting regimes that reduce nesting site availability (`Other' threat).
National High
International None1,345 ha of IBA covered by Nature Reserve (Iðneada, 1,345 ha). 3,000 ha of IBA covered by Permanent Wildlife Reserve (Iðneada, 5,399 ha). 3,000 ha of IBA covered by SÝT (Iðneada, 3,000 ha).
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: İğneada Forests (Türkiye). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/iğneada-forests-iba-türkiye on 25/12/2024.
