Dates & Prices

BOOK HOLIDAY NOW

Dates: 7th – 14th May 2024 Confirmed departure

Price: £1,395 Full

Single Supplement: £150

Deposit: £150 per person


Price Includes: All meals, accommodation with private facilities, ground transport, services of guides, holiday report & charitable donation.

Not Included: Flights, travel insurance, drinks and any other personal items.

Conservation Donation: 10% of profits donated to Birdwing (BirdWatching in Northern Greece)

Leader: TBA

Group Size: Minimum of 4 and a maximum of 12 guests plus 1-2 leaders.

Grade: Gentle paced and generally short and very easy walks.

Holiday Highlights


  • Visit several of the best areas in north Greece for birds
  • 150+ bird species possible (174 seen on our last visit)
  • Special birds at Kerkini such as Dalmatian Pelican, White Pelican, Pygmy Cormorant, Little Bittern, Squacco Heron, Great Egret and Black & White Stork
  • Boat trip on the lake – an unforgettable experience!
  • Raptors such as Honey Buzzard, Levant Sparrowhawk, Black Kite, Golden, Lesser spotted, White-tailed & Booted Eagle
  • 4 species of shrike
  • Eagle Owl, Black Woodpecker, Rock Nuthatch, Alpine Chough are all possible
  • Enjoy ‘spring on the wing’ with an interesting range of butterflies & dragonflies
  • In support of bird conservation charity Birdwing

Visit wetlands of international importance, surrounded by stunning forested mountain ranges – a haven for birds and other wildlife in northern Greece!

BOOK HOLIDAY NOW

This relaxing holiday takes place in one of the best birdwatching locations in Europe and will provide magical views of a wide range of birds and other flora and fauna in Northern Greece. Based at the enchanting Lake Kerkini, but exploring a wider variety of habitats including mountains, woods and coastal lagoons, nature-lovers will enjoy the opportunity to spend quality time watching birdlife and discovering a wide range of species.

You will also be helping birds as we will donate 10% of the proceeds of this trip to the charity Birdwing (Birdwatching in Northern Greece www.birdwing.eu), for their valuable conservation work in the area. The founders, Steve and Hilary, have written the birding guide to Northern Greece, and have over 25-years’ experience of the area.

Lake Kerkini is a magical place. A spring morning by the shore, watching pelicans (Dalmatian and White), egrets and herons whilst being serenaded by Nightingale, Golden Oriole and Turtle Dove as the sun rises above nearby mountains reflected in a still lake is simply stunning! It is a place you will want to go back to again and again.

It is an excellent area for raptors with Golden, Lesser Spotted, Short-toed, Booted and White-tailed Eagles all likely, with a supporting cast of Levant Sparrowhawk, Black Kite, Honey Buzzard, Red-footed and possible Eleanoras Falcons. Imperial Eagles turn up occasionally too! Eagle Owls can often put in an appearance whilst Little Owls are right outside the hotel. We may also see Black Storks gliding effortlessly into their forest homes behind the lake and there are breeding White Storks in the village.

One highlight of our visit will be a boat trip on the lake where we will drift between the trees of the drowned forest getting close to the many waterbirds that breed here including Pygmy Cormorant, Glossy Ibis, Spoonbill, Cattle Egret, Whiskered Tern, Squacco and Night Herons, Black-necked Grebe and hundreds of Great-crested Grebes in their breeding finery. We will also see the Dalmatian and White Pelican breeding colonies on the nesting islands and platforms.

There is also a rich variety of passerines to be found including Lesser Grey, Woodchat and Masked Shrikes, Rock Nuthatch, Short-toed Treecreeper, Golden Oriole, European Bee-eater, Blue Rock Thrush, Penduline Tit, Hoopoe, Cirl and Rock Bunting and Sombre Tit. A large cast list of warblers can include Eastern Orphean, Subalpine, Great Reed and Eastern Olivaceous. The area holds eight woodpeckers, including Grey-headed, Black, Syrian, Lesser and Middle Spotted.

We will also spend some time away from the excitement of the lake, to explore other habitats and increase the range of possible species!  A trip to the coast will provide waders that might include Terek, Marsh and Broad-billed Sandpipers, Little and Temminck’s Stints and other coastal species. We’ll visit a mixture of habitats at different altitudes; from wet woodland through beech, oak and pine woods, montane forest and grassland meadows above the tree line. In the latter we would hope to find Horned Lark, Rock Thrush, Alpine Accentor, Alpine Chough and Rock Partridge.

Our home for the holiday will be less than a mile from the lake shore, at the very welcoming and environmentally aware Hotel Limneo, on the eastern side of the lake. Our host, Nikos, will look after us in the charming village of Chrysohorafa (meaning golden fields) where you will experience traditional rural life and Greece’s famous hospitality.

 

   kerkini-slider Pelican 

Day 1: Arrival in Thessaloniki and transfer to Lake Kerkini

Days 2-7: Lake Kerkini and wider area

Day 8: Departure Day. Transfer to Thessaloniki airport for homeward flights.

Malcolm & Pam…The holiday was very well organised by Greenwings, with great care taken of clients and good knowledge of the birds and places visited – it was a super area to watch birds! This holiday also had the best leaders we have encountered on this type of holiday. They were knowledgable, friendly and caring, we were looked after extremely well!

Alec & Kay…One of the best (if not THE best) European birding trips we have had – and we’ve had lots! This was the ‘real’ Greece, in a ‘real’ village! We really enjoyed the slow pace and time allowed to really watch and listen to fantastic birds in all the different habitats. We particularly liked the abundance of everything, especially the Golden Orioles, Turtle Doves and Hoopoes!