Sani Forest

The robin is characterised by its orange color around the neck, which is in contrast with its brown back and whitish belly. It is a small bird (ca. 13 cm) and has a short and thin beak. It feeds mainly on insects and worms. It has a melodic voice and a characteristic short call.

During the spring and summer, it lives in the forest. We often only recognise its presence by its call, as it hides in bushes. During the autumn and winter, it can be spotted in gardens and parks in the city. It is widespread in Greece and Europe.

The blue tit is a small bird ( at 12-13 cm) with bright yellow and blue colors at wings, head and tail. The head is small, rounded, and compressed into the shoulders. It has a blue skull cap on its white head with a black eye stripe. Its under parts are yellow, with narrow greyish black central stripe on the belly. It breeds in woodlands, where it often hangs upside-down on nut holders and the tips of twigs. It feeds on small insects, spiders, caterpillars and nuts. It nests in tree holes and often in nestboxes.

During the summer it is found in forests. During the winter it can be observed in parks and gardens in towns and villages. It is widespread and common in Greece and Europe. Its population in Greece is resident (during short local and seasonal migrating movements only).

The great tit is a small bird (ca. 14 cm) with a short beak. It has a characteristic yellow underside with a long dark stripe on the chest, as if it were wearing a tie. This black stripe is usually wider on the male than the female. It has a black head with white cheeks, a back of a grey-green colour and a white stripe on the wing. It feeds on small invertebrates, such as grasshoppers, earwigs, flies, ants and beetles), as well as spiders, caterpillars and snails. It has many different calls which may initially confuse us when trying to recognise it, but its song is a characteristic "tit-tit-tit" - from which it also takes its name.

It is a very common bird which can be observed all year round in forests, parks, gardens and fields. It often sits in bushes and trees. It is widespread in Greece and Europe.

It is a nocturnal bird found in villages, castles, archaeological sites, and in open agricultural land and forest sites with cliffs, trees, and hedgerows. It sits motionless on roofs of old houses, wires and ruins. The little owl often takes up a squat posture when alarmed, bobbing in excitement. It is widespread in Greece and Europe and a resident in Greece.

The forest dormouse is active from March to November, as it hibernates the rest of the year to survive the cold winter period. Like all dormice species, it is active during the night and moves primarily through the trees. Your best chance of spotting one is at dusk or dawn, as it scrurries through thick bushes in search of its food, which consists of berries, nuts, flower buds and insects. It is widespread in mainland Greece, occurring in a variety of forest habitats, including oak forests, pine forests and maquis shrublands. In Europe, the species can be found in Eastern Europe, the Balkans and parts of Italy.

Insects can be found in each and every habitat on our planet, whether diving in our oceans or flying over hilltops, mountains and trees, insects comprise the most abundant group of animals on Earth. To reach that level, insects have gone through a long, winding and not always easy path of evolution that started millions of years ago. Along this road, insects have survived from mass extinction events, that nearly removed all life from our planet. However, insects are now facing threats more fatal than meteor crashes, and super volcano eruptions, which challenge their capacity to adapt and survive over time.

Land use change, reckless insecticide use and climate change constitute challenges that insects have never faced before. To understand, identify, protect and conserve insects, monitoring projects collect field data from various sites on Earth. A network of traps is established within the Sani Environmental Observatory at the Aleppo pine forest of Sani Resort, so as to observe the insect communities inhabiting this unique landscape, and at the same time, suggest measures to protect them for future generations