Coastal Wetlands & the Sea

Slovenia has a quite short stretch of coast, facing the Gulf of Trieste in the Adriatic sea. Although the coast is only 46 km long, some very precious brackish and saline wetlands can still be found. These include Škocjanski zatok Nature Reserve, Sečovlje salinas Nature Park and the Strunjan Nature Park. The Sečovlje and Strunjan salinas have mostly salty and brackish water, while Škocjanski zatok has both a brackish lagoon as well as a freshwater wetland. The latter is a new and re-naturalised nature reserve, full of interesting birds and always worth a visit. There are several species of breeding birds found in the brackish lagoons and salinas and nowhere else in Slovenia.

Most famous and charismatic species :

Kentish Plover Charadrius alexandrinus

Black-winged Stilt Himantopus himantopus

Avocet Recurvirostra avosetta

Shelduck Tadorna tadorna

Little Tern Sternula albifrons

Common Redshank Tringa totanus

Common Tern Sterna hirundo

Mediterranean Gull Larus melanocephalus

Little Bittern Ixobrychus minutus

Purple Heron Ardea purpurea

Water Rail Rallus aquaticus