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Overview
A 6ha Ramsar Site on Mellieha Bay in the north-east of Malta, Ghadira is a brackish pool surrounded by reedbeds and Tamarisk scrub and the most important wetland in Malta.
Birds
Notable Species
Most important as a stopover for migrants, the pool attracts various waders including Little Ringed Plover and Ringed Plover, Little Stint and Curlew Sandpiper, Common Redshank and Ruff, and Wood Sandpiper, Green Sandpiper and Common Sandpiper.
Rarities
Scarcer species are often present as well as occasional gulls and terns, herons, waterfowl and crakes. Breeding species include Zitting Cisticola and Corn Bunting.
In December 2002 the first Greenish Warbler for Malta was ringed here and this is the place for rarities on Malta.
Check-list
Birds you can see here include:
Little Bittern, Squacco Heron, Black-crowned Night Heron, Little Egret, Grey Heron, Purple Heron, Mallard, Western Marsh Harrier, Red-footed Falcon, Common Kestrel, Common Moorhen, Little Ringed Plover, Ringed Plover, Kentish Plover, Northern Lapwing, Little Stint, Curlew Sandpiper, Dunlin, Ruff, Common Snipe, Common Redshank, Common Greenshank, Green Sandpiper, Wood Sandpiper, Common Sandpiper, Common Kingfisher, Sand Martin, Barn Swallow, Northern House Martin, Meadow Pipit, Blue-headed Wagtail, White Wagtail, Cetti's Warbler, Zitting Cisticola, Sardinian Warbler, Sedge Warbler, Common Reed Warbler, Great Reed Warbler, Spanish Sparrow, Corn Bunting
Other Wildlife
Other than birds, other wildlife can be observed at Ghadira nature reserve. Reptiles include: the Mediterranean Chameleon Chamaleo chamaeleon, the Maltese Wall Lizard Podarcis filfolensis, Ocellated Skink Chalcides ocellatus, Western Whip Snake Coluber viridiflavus and other snakes. Mammals include the Wild Rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus, the Weasel Mustela nivalis, the vagrant Hedgehog Erinaceus algirus and a variety of mice and bats. There are also killifish and a variety of insect and arachnids.
Site Information
History and Use
To do
Areas of Interest
To do
Access and Facilities
Recent decades have seen the creation and restoration of habitat at Ghadira and there is an information centre and observation hide.
Contact Details
To do
External Links
Content and images originally posted by Steve
