the Biebrza marshes - Poland

The marshes of the Biebrza river in northeastern Poland form one of the most intact lowland river ecosystem in the whole of Europe. The Biebrza itself is a fairly small river that meanders through a very wide valley in the gently undulating landscape of the Polish province of Podlasia. What makes this area so special is that the river is almost completely unregulated. The water courses, both from spring to mouth as from the river bed to the glacial moraines, follow their natural cycle. Along its entire length, the river is scarcely troubled by the hand of man. In spring the wide valleys are submerged by the floods, creating a massive and highly varied marshland. As the river water retreats, it leaves behind a marshland which is home to a bewildering variety of flora and fauna. The Biebrza is a relict of a landscape, huge flat wetlands, that once dominated the coastal margins of the Northern European Plain.

Landscape
This provides the Biebrza its great number of habitats: reedbeds, patches of willow flood forest, hidden oxbow lakes, extensive alder swamps, wet meadows and - uniquely- a vast area of fen mires. A fen mire is a marshland dominated by a low vegetation of different kinds of sedges and a great number of wildflowers (including various orchids). The Biebrza mires are home to one of the rarest and most threatened birds in Europe, the aquatic warbler.
The marshlands of the valley give way to heavily forested moraines and open river dunes. These areas are dominated by spruce in some places, and by a varied broadleaved forest in others. Most of the central European mammals can be encountered here, including elk (moose) and lynx. Several packs of wolfs roam the woods as well, hunting for deer and boars. The river itself is inhabited by beavers and otters.

Bird sanctuary
The Biebrza River valley is famous for being the last virtually unscathed lowland river valley in Europe. But in practice, it is the rich birdlife that draws people to the area. To give but just a small sample, the Biebrza has healthy populations of lesser spotted eagle, white-tailed eagle, crane, black stork, spotted crake, corncrake, white-winged tern and, of course, the aforementioned aquatic warbler. Much of Biebrza is an impenetrable wet jungle, but one can see much of its beauty and its birds by wandering the trails and tracks that run into the valley from the small villages on the moraines.

The Crossbill Guide to the Biebrza marshes (2005) introduces you to this fascinating region and provides you with itineraries which allow you to discover the area at your own pace.
The whole of the province of Podlasia, in which the Biebrza is situated, has a wealth of natural treasures. A trip to the Biebrza is easily combined with a visit to the nearby Narew National park and to the famous Bialowieza National Park, which is covered by the nature Guide to Bialowieza primeval forest. You can also travel north to the forests of Augustow, or to the Masurian lake region, a little to the northwest. The mountains in southern Poland are within reach as well, such as the Tatra Mountain reserves, or Bieszczady National Park in the far southeast.










Photography top to bottom: Biebrza, CGF - Kim Lotterman; Clouded Apollo, CGF - Kim Lotterman; Penduline Tit, Jörg Mager