Pachies Ammoudies of Lemnos or Sand dunes of Lemnos (

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

: ''Παχιές Αμμουδιές της Λήμνου'' or ''Αμμοθίνες της Λήμνου''), also referred to as the Lemnos Desert, are sand dunes on the island of

Lemnos Lemnos or Limnos ( el, Λήμνος; grc, Λῆμνος) is a Greek island in the northern Aegean Sea. Administratively the island forms a separate municipality within the Lemnos regional unit, which is part of the North Aegean region. The p ...

in northern

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

. The dunes are spread over an area of about 70

decares The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a Non-SI units mentioned in the SI, non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one ...

(7 hectares). Pachies Ammoudies are located on the north of the island of Lemnos, 3 km north of the village of Katalakkos and near the Gomati beach. This unexpected desert testifies the presence of sea in the area during the Paleolithic era.

Fauna

The dunes are home to various animals, most notably rabbits, and also to various species of birds, such as the

chukar partridge The chukar partridge (''Alectoris chukar''), or simply chukar, is a Palearctic upland gamebird in the pheasant family Phasianidae. It has been considered to form a superspecies complex along with the rock partridge, Philby's partridge and Prze ...

, the

Eurasian hoopoe The Eurasian hoopoe (''Upupa epops'') is the most widespread species of the genus '' Upupa''. It is a distinctive cinnamon coloured bird with black and white wings, a tall erectile crest, a broad white band across a black tail, and a long narrow ...

, the common quail and others.

Flora

The dunes are inhabited by white lilies, sprouting right from the sand and olive trees flanking the edge of the desert, as well as the usual desert shrubbery.

References

Lemnos Deserts of Greece Deserts of Europe {{NorthAegean-geo-stub