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Site of Community Importance and Special Protection Area (SCI and SPA)Εκβολές (Δέλτα) Καλαμά

Ekvoles (Delta) Kalama

Ekvoles (Delta) Kalama (GR2120001 and GR2120005) is a Site of Community Importance and Special Protection Area (SCI and SPA) in the Natura 2000 network, 8,643 hectares (86 km²). It lies in the municipalities of Filiates and Igoumenitsa (regional unit Thesprotia, Epirus). According to the European Environment Agency's database (2024 release) it protects 13 habitat types of Annex I and 55 species (birds 45, mammals 1, reptiles 6, fish 3).

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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. Left out: 4 species that the EEA records as non-significant presence.

Annex I habitat types
CodeHabitat type (as the EEA gives it)Cover (ha)Priority
1150Coastal lagoons1,699Priority
5420Sarcopoterium spinosum phryganas1,260–
1410Mediterranean salt meadows (Juncetalia maritimi)506–
1420Mediterranean and thermo-Atlantic halophilous scrubs (Sarcocornetea fruticosi)430–
92D0Southern riparian galleries and thickets (Nerio-Tamaricetea and Securinegion tinctoriae)211–
9350Quercus macrolepis forests183–
92A0Salix alba and Populus alba galleries140–
1310Salicornia and other annuals colonizing mud and sand90–
2110Embryonic shifting dunes17–
1210Annual vegetation of drift lines3–
5330Thermo-Mediterranean and pre-desert scrub1–
6420Mediterranean tall humid grasslands of the Molinio-Holoschoenion0–
3280Constantly flowing Mediterranean rivers with Paspalo-Agrostidion species and hanging curtains of Salix and Populus alba––

Birds (45)

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), Eagle Owl (Bubo bubo), Golden Plover (Pluvialis apricaria), Great Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus arundinaceus), Greater Flamingo (Phoenicopterus roseus), Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea), Hen Harrier (Circus cyaneus), Honey Buzzard (Pernis apivorus), Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis), Levant Sparrowhawk (Accipiter brevipes), Little Bittern (Ixobrychus minutus), Little Egret (Egretta garzetta), Little Tern (Sternula albifrons), Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos), Merlin (Falco columbarius), Mute Swan (Cygnus olor), Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax), Nightjar (Caprimulgus europaeus), Numenius arquata arquata, Osprey (Pandion haliaetus), Peregrine (Falco peregrinus), Pintail (Anas acuta), Pygmy Cormorant (Microcarbo pygmaeus), Red-backed Shrike (Lanius collurio), Red-footed Falcon (Falco vespertinus), Ruff (Calidris pugnax), Short-toed Eagle (Circaetus gallicus), Short-toed Lark (Calandrella brachydactyla), Spotted Crake (Porzana porzana), Spotted Eagle (Clanga clanga), Stone Curlew (Burhinus oedicnemus), Subalpine Warbler (Sylvia cantillans), Swallow (Hirundo rustica), Syrian Woodpecker (Dendrocopos syriacus), Turtle Dove (Streptopelia turtur), White-winged Black Tern (Chlidonias leucopterus), Wood Sandpiper (Tringa glareola), Woodchat Shrike (Lanius senator), Woodlark (Lullula arborea), Yellow Wagtail (Motacilla flava)

Mammals (1)

Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra)

Reptiles (6)

Balkan pond turtle (Mauremys rivulata), European pond terrapin (Emys orbicularis), Four lined snake (Elaphe quatuorlineata), Green turtle (Chelonia mydas), Hermann's tortoise (Testudo hermanni), Marginated tortoise (Testudo marginata)

Fish (3)

Pelasgus thesproticus, South European Toothcarp (Aphanius fasciatus), Telestes pleurobipunctatus

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. The page covers both codes because the boundaries of the two sites almost coincide (at least 95% of each inside the other, or 80% with the same name).

Network codes
CodeTypeAreaDesignated (EEA)Name in the EEA register
GR2120001Site of Community Importance (SCI)8,632 haAug. 1996EKVOLES (DELTA) KALAMA
GR2120005Special Protection Area (SPA)8,643 haFeb. 1997YGROTOPOS EKVOLON KALAMA KAI NISOS PRASOUDI

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: 2. Up to 12 per kind are shown, best known first.

Towns and villages: within 3 km outside the boundary

Beaches: inside the boundary (1)

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 .