Wied Għollieqa (l/o San Ġwann and Msida)
Tree protected areas (18)
Wied Għollieqa is one of the few green areas left in the San Ġwann/Gżira area. Besides its important role in storm water management, the valley is important from an ecological point of view, hosting a number of species of riparian woodlands, maquis and valley-bed woodland communities.
The native maquis trees in the area include carobs (ħarrub), lentisks and mastic trees (deru), almonds (lewż), bramble (għollieq) and some of the largest olive-leaved buckthorns (żiju) in the Maltese islands.
Such maquis communities house a very unique mycoflora, making Wied Għollieqa one of the most important “mushroom” woodland sites of the Maltese islands.
Other threatened tree species were introduced in the area in the late 1980s and include, among others, holm oaks (ballut), Aleppo pines (żnuber), myrtle (riħan), bay laurel (rand, common elder (sebuqa kbira), wild pears (lanġas selvaġġ), dwarf fan-palms (ġummar), sandarac gum trees (għargħar), white poplar (luq), hoary elm (ulmu) and narrow-leaved ash (fraxxnu).
The area has been protected since 1993 and is a declared a bird sanctuary, a nature reserve, a special area of conservation of national importance, an area of ecological importance and as a site of scientific importance.
Mepa declared this site a tree protected area on May 24, 2011, in accordance with the provisions of the Trees and Woodlands Protection Regulations (2011) as per Government Notice number 473/11.