Current view: Text account
Site description (2000 baseline):
Site location and context
An extensive marsh/mire, dominated by sedge (
Carex,
Eriophorum), with lakes and pools, 10 km south of the town of Hella in southern Iceland. It stretches from Thykkvabæjarvatn (with surrounding marshes) to Kringlutjörn and Frakkavatn (with surrounding marshes), and includes Andalækur and the area from Vetleifsholtbugaur to Hrútsvatn. This is the southern and western part of Safamýri, formerly one of the richest
Carex-
Eriophorum marshes in Iceland before its drainage and the damming of the Thverá and Ytri-Rangá rivers. Pond-weed
Potamogeton is abundant in Frakkavatn.
A wide variety of wildfowl and waders breed in the area, and
Anas penelope moults on Frakkavatn and Andalækur.
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
Parts of the site have been severely damaged by drainage and the area is also threatened by further drainage for agricultural purposes. Hunting causes excessive disturbance at the roost sites of
Anser albifrons. Only a part of this area is in the Nature Conservation Register. The site is an enlarged and re-named version of the IBA `Safamýri', formerly site 009 in the previous international IBA inventory (Grimmett and Jones 1989).
National None
International None
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Vetleifsholtsbugar-Thykkvabæjarvatn (Iceland). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/vetleifsholtsbugar-thykkvabæjarvatn-iba-iceland on 23/12/2024.
