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

Limnothalasses Stenon Lefkadas (Palionis - Avlimon) Kai Alykes Lefkadas

Limnothalasses Stenon Lefkadas (Palionis - Avlimon) Kai Alykes Lefkadas (GR2240001) is a Site of Community Importance and Special Protection Area (SCI and SPA) in the Natura 2000 network, 2,121 hectares (21 km²), with a marine part. It lies in the municipalities of Aktio and Vonitsa and Lefkada (regional units Aetolia-Acarnania and Lefkada, Western Greece). It is on the island of Lefkada. According to the European Environment Agency's database (2024 release) it protects 8 habitat types of Annex I and 57 species (birds 49, mammals 1, reptiles 5, fish 2).

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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
1150Coastal lagoons905Priority
1310Salicornia and other annuals colonizing mud and sand72–
1420Mediterranean and thermo-Atlantic halophilous scrubs (Sarcocornetea fruticosi)60–
1410Mediterranean salt meadows (Juncetalia maritimi)57–
2110Embryonic shifting dunes53–
9320Olea and Ceratonia forests31–
1240Vegetated sea cliffs of the Mediterranean coasts with endemic Limonium spp.2–
6420Mediterranean tall humid grasslands of the Molinio-Holoschoenion1–

Birds (49)

Black-headed Gull (Larus ridibundus), Black-necked Grebe (Podiceps nigricollis), Black-tailed Godwit (Limosa limosa), Black-winged Stilt (Himantopus himantopus), Buzzard (Buteo buteo), Common House Martin (Delichon urbicum), Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos), Common Tern (Sterna hirundo), Coot (Fulica atra), Cormorant (continental subspecies) (Phalacrocorax carbo sinensis), Corncrake (Crex crex), Curlew Sandpiper (Calidris ferruginea), Dunlin (Calidris alpina), Great Crested Grebe (Podiceps cristatus), Greater Flamingo (Phoenicopterus roseus), Green Sandpiper (Tringa ochropus), Greenshank (Tringa nebularia), Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea), Grey Plover (Pluvialis squatarola), Kentish Plover (Charadrius alexandrinus), Little Egret (Egretta garzetta), Little Stint (Calidris minuta), Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos), Marsh Sandpiper (Tringa stagnatilis), Mute Swan (Cygnus olor), Numenius arquata arquata, Peregrine (Falco peregrinus), Pintail (Anas acuta), Pochard (Aythya ferina), Pygmy Cormorant (Microcarbo pygmaeus), Quail (Coturnix coturnix), Red-breasted Merganser (Mergus serrator), Redshank (Tringa totanus), Ringed Plover (Charadrius hiaticula), Sanderling (Calidris alba), Short-toed Lark (Calandrella brachydactyla), Shoveler (Spatula clypeata), Snipe (Gallinago gallinago), Spanish Sparrow (Passer hispaniolensis), Spotted Redshank (Tringa erythropus), Swallow (Hirundo rustica), Swift (Apus apus), Tawny Pipit (Anthus campestris), Teal (Anas crecca), Temminck's Stint (Calidris temminckii), Whooper Swan (Cygnus cygnus), Wigeon (Mareca penelope), Wood Sandpiper (Tringa glareola), Yellow Wagtail (Motacilla flava)

Mammals (1)

Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra)

Reptiles (5)

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

Fish (2)

Dáska (Pelasgus stymphalicus), South European Toothcarp (Aphanius fasciatus)

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
GR2240001Site of Community Importance and Special Protection Area (SCI and SPA)2,121 haApril 1997LIMNOTHALASSES STENON LEFKADAS (PALIONIS - AVLIMON) KAI ALYKES LEFKADAS

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

Towns and villages: within 3 km outside the boundary

Beaches: inside the boundary (3)

Beaches: within 3 km outside the boundary

Sights: inside the boundary (1)

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 .