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Site of Community Importance and Special Protection Area (SCI and SPA)Εκβολές Ποταμού Στρυμόνα

Ekvoles Potamou Strymona

Ekvoles Potamou Strymona (GR1260002) is a Site of Community Importance and Special Protection Area (SCI and SPA) in the Natura 2000 network, 1,274 hectares (13 km²), with a marine part. It lies in the municipalities of Amphipolis and Paggaio (regional units Serres and Kavala, Central Macedonia). According to the European Environment Agency's database (2024 release) it protects 12 habitat types of Annex I and 51 species (birds 40, mammals 1, reptiles 3, fish 6, invertebrates 1).

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What it protects

Source: the European Environment Agency's Natura 2000 database, 2024 release, as reported by the member state. Habitat types are shown with their Annex I code and the EEA's English name. Common names of species come from Wikidata where they exist, otherwise the scientific name is shown.

Annex I habitat types
CodeHabitat type (as the EEA gives it)Cover (ha)Priority
1410Mediterranean salt meadows (Juncetalia maritimi)98–
2220Dunes with Euphorbia terracina92–
1420Mediterranean and thermo-Atlantic halophilous scrubs (Sarcocornetea fruticosi)42–
1210Annual vegetation of drift lines17–
2110Embryonic shifting dunes11–
2120Shifting dunes along the shoreline with Ammophila arenaria ("white dunes")6–
1140Mudflats and sandflats not covered by seawater at low tide3–
92D0Southern riparian galleries and thickets (Nerio-Tamaricetea and Securinegion tinctoriae)2–
2190Humid dune slacks1–
1310Salicornia and other annuals colonizing mud and sand0–
3150Natural eutrophic lakes with Magnopotamion or Hydrocharition - type vegetation0–
1150Coastal lagoons–Priority

Birds (40)

Bee-eater (Merops apiaster), Black-headed Gull (Larus ridibundus), Black-necked Grebe (Podiceps nigricollis), Black-throated Diver (Gavia arctica), Black-winged Stilt (Himantopus himantopus), Buzzard (Buteo buteo), Common Tern (Sterna hirundo), Coot (Fulica atra), Cormorant (continental subspecies) (Phalacrocorax carbo sinensis), Curlew Sandpiper (Calidris ferruginea), Dunlin (Calidris alpina), Great Crested Grebe (Podiceps cristatus), Greater Flamingo (Phoenicopterus roseus), Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea), Grey Plover (Pluvialis squatarola), Hen Harrier (Circus cyaneus), Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis), Lesser Grey Shrike (Lanius minor), Little Egret (Egretta garzetta), Little Stint (Calidris minuta), Little Tern (Sternula albifrons), Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos), Merlin (Falco columbarius), Mute Swan (Cygnus olor), Nightjar (Caprimulgus europaeus), Oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus), Pintail (Anas acuta), Pygmy Cormorant (Microcarbo pygmaeus), Red-backed Shrike (Lanius collurio), Redshank (Tringa totanus), Short-toed Eagle (Circaetus gallicus), Shoveler (Spatula clypeata), Skylark (Alauda arvensis), Snipe (Gallinago gallinago), Stone Curlew (Burhinus oedicnemus), Swallow (Hirundo rustica), Syrian Woodpecker (Dendrocopos syriacus), Teal (Anas crecca), Turtle Dove (Streptopelia turtur), Wigeon (Mareca penelope)

Mammals (1)

Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra)

Reptiles (3)

European pond terrapin (Emys orbicularis), Hermann's tortoise (Testudo hermanni), Spur-thighed Tortoise (Testudo graeca)

Fish (6)

Asp (Aspius aspius), Atlantic Sturgeon (Acipenser sturio), European bitterling (Rhodeus amarus), South European Toothcarp (Aphanius fasciatus), Strumica Barbel (Barbus strumicae), Twaite shad (Alosa fallax)

Invertebrates (1)

Lindenia tetraphylla

Designation

It is protected both for the habitat types and species of the Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC), as a Site of Community Importance, and for the bird species of the Birds Directive (2009/147/EC), as a Special Protection Area.

Network codes
CodeTypeAreaDesignated (EEA)Name in the EEA register
GR1260002Site of Community Importance and Special Protection Area (SCI and SPA)1,274 haApril 1997EKVOLES POTAMOU STRYMONA

Legal basis: Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC) and Birds Directive (2009/147/EC). The register name is the one the EEA publishes.

Places inside and beside the site

Settlements, official bathing-water sites and sights with a page of their own whose point lies inside the boundary or up to 3 km outside it. Inside: 1. Up to 12 per kind are shown, best known first.

Towns and villages: within 3 km outside the boundary

Beaches: within 3 km outside the boundary

Sights: inside the boundary (1)

Sights: within 3 km outside the boundary

Works and permits in the site

Works and plans that could significantly affect a Natura 2000 site need an appropriate assessment of their effects under Article 6(3) of the Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC). In Greece this is the Special Ecological Assessment (Ειδική Οικολογική Αξιολόγηση, ΕΟΑ) under law 4014/2011. The Natural Environment and Climate Change Agency (ΟΦΥΠΕΚΑ) is responsible for managing Natura 2000 sites, through the protected-area management bodies.

This page is not legal advice and does not say what is allowed on a particular property. Each site's rules are set in the official texts; for a property or a project, ask the competent authority. Natura 2000 at the European Commission.

How the numbers were counted

The boundary is the Ministry's (YPEN geoportal). The code, name, area, date of designation, habitat types and species are from the EEA's Natura 2000 database (2024 release, fetched 8 Oct 2026). Habitat cover is what the member state reports; where the EEA gives an "unknown" value (9999) or one larger than the site, it is not shown. The EEA gives the marine part only as yes or no, not as a share, and we do not use the "quality and importance" text of the data form. The EEA data is licensed CC BY 4.0 (copyright holder: the European Commission's Directorate-General for Environment). The Greek and English names of sites and species, and the Wikipedia article titles, are Wikidata's (CC0).

Municipalities come from sample points inside the boundary: one is named when it holds at least 5% of the points that fall on land. For a purely marine site the nearest coastal municipality (within 60 km) is named. The settlements, beaches and sights are those that have a page on this site; municipal boundaries and island outlines are from OpenStreetMap.

Places nearby

Pages of this site, in a straight line and on the same side of the water, nearest first.

Nearest airport

Nearest ferry port

See also

Sources

Every figure on this page comes from the sources below, with the date each was updated.

Page updated .