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
Little Tern Sternula albifrons
Common Redshank Tringa totanus
Mediterranean Gull Larus melanocephalus
Little Bittern Ixobrychus minutus
Yellow Wagtail Motacilla flava
Great Reed Warbler Acrocephalus arundinaceus
Zitting Cisticola Cisticola juncidis
Pygmy Cormorant Phalacrocorax pygmeus
Moustached Warbler Acrocephalus melanopogon
Flamingos Phoenicopterus roseus
European Pond Terrapin Emys orbicularis
Italian Wall Lizard Podarcis sicula
European Green Toad Bufo viridis
Mediterranean Killifish Aphanius fasciatus
Shag Phalacrocorax aristotelis
Sandwich Tern Sterna sandvicensis
Yellow-legged Gull Larus michahellis
Mediterranean Gull Larus melanocephalus
Black-headed Gull Larus ridibundus
Yelkouan Shearwaters Puffinus yelkouan
Scopoli’s Shearwater Calonectris diomedea
Black-throated Diver Gavia arctica
Red-throated Diver Gavia stellata
Red-necked Grebe Podiceps grisegena
Slavonian Grebe Podiceps auritus
Bottlenose Dolphin Tursiops truncatus
Loggerhead Turle Caretta caretta
Short-beaked Common Dolphin Delphinus delphis