Dionysiou Solomou 49, Serres, 62123
The Lake of Kerkini
The Lake of Kerkini
Lake Kerkini is suitable for alternative tourism and is one of the most important wetlands in Greece. In this most important biological ensemble lives, develops and reproduces in number and variety, a rich world of living organisms, a bio-community, whose protection and preservation for moral, aesthetic, scientific and economic reasons is of vital importance.
Lake Kerkini is located 45 km west of the town of Serres and next to the village of Lithotopos. Its name is borrowed from the lake Kerkinitida, mentioned in Arrianos, where the fleet of Alexander the Great sailed. This lake was located near the mouth of the river Strymonas and the city of Amphipolis, the lake t Achinos dried up a few decades ago.
Today's artificial lake of Kerkini was created in the place of the marsh of "Butkovo", which is identified by most researchers of the historical geography of Eastern Macedonia with the ancient lake Prasiada. The river Strymonas, which was worshipped as a god in ancient times for the rich donations of its waters to the plain of Serres, but also for its destructive power when flooding, enters Greece, coming from Bulgaria, from Bulgaria through the straits of Rupel and, before joining its contents with the waters of the Strymonikos Gulf, it rests in the Lake of Kerkini, whose creation was intended to stem the floods, retain the sediment and irrigate the Serra plain.
The works for the creation of the lake were started by the Monks-Ulen company in 1928-1936 and completed by the Greek state. These projects included the creation of embankments, the construction of a dam, the draining of Lake Achinos, the creation of irrigation canals, the construction of a network of ditches and the regulation of torrents, in order to increase and at the same time protect agricultural production, which as the main economic activity of the Prefecture of Serres is directly dependent on the water supply capacity of Lake Kerkini. The creation of this technical water reservoir favoured the development of a bio-community of plant and animal species in a wetland of rare beauty protected by the Ramsar Convention, the Greek legislation and the EC Directive 79/409. The wading forest shelters 276 recorded bird species that constitute 68% of the species present in our country, 70 of which, as they are rare or endangered, such as the silver pelican, the rose-breasted pelican, the loon, the nightjar, the chouliar flycatcher, the red-breasted grouse, the black-headed stork and all the chickadees, are protected by the European Union.
In spring, as the lake floods, the forest of willows, tamarisk, plane trees, alders and poplars is an important breeding and nesting area for waterfowl, while the impressive carpet of water lilies, covering almost 7 square meters, offers an excellent shelter for fish. In the wet meadows with their lush alder vegetation herons, egrets, chickadees and steelhead find rich food, while in the shallower waters salvinia and water chestnut abound, excellent food for the lake's waterfowl.In winter, when the lake level drops, the composition of the birdlife changes, but its diversity remains high.
In the waters of the lake there are more than thirty species of fish, such as the carp, the eel, the butterfly, the goliath, etc., while a significant number of different amphibians, reptiles and invertebrate species live in its boundaries. The largest number of buffaloes in Greece lives at the edges of the wading forest. In the wider area adjacent to the lake, there are many mammals, such as the jackal, the wolf, the wildcat, the hare, the rabbit, the fox, the weasel, the weasel, the deer, the badger, etc.Today, the abundance of food in the lake's waters, its geographical location, the diversity of its habitats and vegetation contribute to the fact that this wetland is an important environment for the development of birdlife, which finds ideal living and breeding conditions here, while the lake itself meets huge ecological and economic requirements.
