Current view: Text account
Site description (2000 baseline):
Site location and context
Apavatn and Laugarvatn lakes and their surrounding marshes/mires lie about 20 km east of Lake Thingvallavatn, in the north-west part of the southern lowlands of Iceland. Marshes are dominated by sedges (
Carex,
Eriophorum). There is a wetland with hot-springs at Hjálmstadaengjar. Holiday-homes are present.
Notable numbers of
Bucephala clangula (some tens)
and
Mergus merganser (18 in 1988, 46 in 1989) also occur in winter. A wide variety of waterbirds breed, including
Histrionicus histrionicus, and hundreds of staging
Aythya marila,
A. fuligula and
Mergus serrator use the area on passage.
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
The area is threatened by drainage, and birds are disturbed by traffic, tourists, owners of holiday-homes, boat-traffic on the lakes, windsurfing on Laugarvatn, and by horses. The area is on the list of sites of conservation interest in the Nature Conservation Register.
National None
International None
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Laugarvatn - Apavatn - Bruara (Iceland). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/laugarvatn--apavatn--bruara-iba-iceland on 05/12/2024.
