Current view: Text account
Site description (2000 baseline):
Site location and context
Vega is an archipelago of several thousand small islands and islets. Some of the largest islands are partly cultivated and inhabited. The landscape is a mosaic of peatbogs and rocky areas, with scattered brackish tarns between Viksås and Holand, and near Valen, as well as some freshwater ponds. Intertidal areas are extensive, with seaweed beds, nutrient-rich mud, and rock, sand and gravel; the most important mudflats for birds are on the northern side of the main island.
Haliaeetus albicilla is common all year-round.
Anser brachyrhynchus is numerous on passage in spring. A wide variety of waders often breed, and large numbers stage on the island shores in early autumn. Seaduck are the most common wintering waterbirds in the shallow areas west and north of the main island, and include
Somateria spectabilis (c.500).
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
The absence since 1980 of sheep-grazing and traditional land management on the outer islands, the preferred staging areas for
Branta leucopsis, has reduced the availability of suitable plant food for the geese and has forced them to stage on the inner, inhabited islands. Here, through their grazing on crops, the geese are in conflict with farmers. Experiments to scare the geese from some agricultural areas have been carried out. The former staging areas are no longer suitable for
Branta leucopsis due to domination of the sward by perennial herbs (
Filipendula) and due to a large increase in the abundance of voles
Microtus. Oil production in the Norwegian Sea outside Nordland County represents a potential threat to the many seabirds wintering in the waters around Vega. Part of the area is a proposed National Park.
National Partial
International NonePart of IBA covered by Nature Reserve (Kjellerhaugvatn; area unknown). Part of IBA covered by Nature Reserve (Sveavatn; area unknown). Part of IBA covered by Nature Reserve (Vikåsleirene; area unknown).
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Vega archipelago (Norway). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/vega-archipelago-iba-norway on 23/12/2024.
