SPA description
(information as published 2001)
Laggan, Islay
Laggan is located on the Hebridean island of Islay on the west
coast of Scotland. The Laggan Peninsula is situated on the eastern
shore of Loch Indaal, a sea loch, and comprises the rocky headland
of Laggan Point and the land backing Laggan Point and Laggan Bay.
The bay is an 11-kilometre long sandy sweep open to the Atlantic.
This is backed by a rare and uninterrupted habitat transition from
sand dunes and intertidal rocky shore habitats through acidic dune
grassland, coastal heath and ultimately to blanket bog. The blanket
bog is used as a roost by wintering Greenland White-fronted Goose
Anser albifrons flavirostris. Intensively managed farmland
on the site is an important feeding area for wintering Greenland
Barnacle Goose Branta leucopsis. Goose using this site as
a feeding area also use roosts elsewhere (including Bridgend Flats
SPA for Greenland Barnacle Goose and Eilean na Muice Duibhe SPA for
Greenland White-fronted Goose).
Qualifying species
For individual species accounts visit the Species
Accounts section
This site qualifies under Article 4.1 of the
Directive (79/409/EEC) by supporting populations of European
importance of the following species listed on Annex I of the
Directive:
Over winter;
Barnacle Goose Branta leucopsis, 1,800 individuals
representing at least 6.7% of the wintering population in Great
Britain (Count as at mid 1990s)
Greenland White-fronted Goose Anser albifrons
flavirostris, 300 individuals representing at least 2.1% of
the wintering population in Great Britain (Count as at mid
1990s)
Note:
Many designated sites are on private land: the listing of
a site in these pages does not imply any right of public
access.
Note that sites selected for waterbird species on the basis of
their occurrence in the breeding, passage or winter periods also
provide legal protection for these species when they occur at other
times of the year.