Location: Pomeranian Voivodeship Map
Area: 186 km² (72 sq mi)
Słowiński National Park is a nature reserve
situated in Pomeranian Voivodeship in Poland. It covers an area of
186 sq km (72 sq mi). The park was created in 1967 with an initial
area of 180.69 km²; today it is only slightly larger - 186.18 km².
In 1997, UNESCO recognized the park as a biosphere reserve under the
Man and the Biosphere program; in 1995 was recognized as an object
of the Ramsar Convention.
In 1963, near the village of Kluki,
in the territory of the subsequently established park, the Slovinsky
Village ethnographic museum was created, demonstrating the rural
life and culture of the Slovinians who lived here in the middle of
the 19th century.
History
Słowiński National Park was
established on January 1, 1967 on the area of 18,069 ha.
In
1977 it was included by UNESCO (under the "Man and Biosphere"
program) to the network of biosphere reserves, and in 1995 it was
entered into the list of areas protected by the Ramsar Convention on
wetlands of international natural importance under the number 757.
In 2004, it was enlarged by 14,675 ha, including 11,000 ha of
Baltic waters, and since then it covers an area of 32,744.03 ha.
Inanimate nature
The greatest value of the Słowiński National
Park is not the flora and fauna, but inanimate nature - dunes,
especially the wandering ones, moraines, spits, lakes, peat bogs and
beaches. Dynamic processes of destruction and creation take place
here, and an example may be the unveiling of a forest buried several
thousand years ago by shifting dunes in the spring of 2016.
Flora
There are communities in the Park: dune, peat bog, meadow
and forest. You can find here natural succession lines, from
pioneering plants appearing on beaches to typical coastal bushberry
forests. It occurs, among others sandblast, and other pioneering
species are coastal rocket and sand honkenia. 80% of the park's
forests are forest.
In total, the Park has about 920 species
of vascular plants, 165 species of bryophytes, 500 species of algae,
424 species of fungi, 46 of which are under strict protection and 15
under partial protection. These include, among others: peat fork,
seaside St. Nicholas, twinflower, round-leaved sundew, orchid
family, king sundew, lake porcupine, cloudberry. The latter is a
postglacial relic.
Among the more interesting species of
mushrooms there are, among others: morels, giant skullcap, pine
sucker and shameless stinkhorn; over 500 species have been found in
total. Among the lichens, of which about 250 species have been
recorded, there are, among others, protected representatives of the
genera Usnea (bearded) and Bryoria (tufted duck).
Fauna
The most important animals of the Park are birds. About 260 species
of birds have been classified here, of which 170 breed (the
remaining ones hibernate or appear during passages). During the
autumn and spring migrations, species from the north pass this here,
and some winter; the red dartfish (Calidris canutus) is observed
during passages. There are also battalions (Philomachus pugnax),
herring gulls (Larus argentatus), curlews (Numenius arquata),
redshank (Tringa totanus), ohar (Tadorna tadorna), snipe snipe
(Gallinago gallinago), greylag gull (Anser ansera), long tail (Aytha
ansera) ferina) and cranes (Grus grus). On the other hand, in the
forests you can meet the golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos), osprey
and owls - incl. eagle owl (Bubo bubo) and woolly eagle owl
(Aeogolius funereus). Among the claws there are also, among others
lesser spotted eagle (Clanga pomarina), harriers (Circus spp.) and
red kite (Milvus milvus). The very rarely smelling clawed pipit
(Anthus richardi) has also been observed.
The Park is also
home to insects, including rare butterflies, beetles and
springtails, and from amphibians we can find toads and frogs. 490
species of insects have been recorded, including the strictly
protected Carabus beetles (15 species), the Lapland float, the beech
ibex, the lesser iris and the hermit beetle; 5 species are strictly
protected from dragonflies, 3 species each from bumblebees and
butterflies.
There are 10 species of amphibians, including
the common toad (Bufo bufo) and natterjack toad (Epidalea calamita),
grass frog (Rana temporaria), moor frog (Rana arvalis), lake frog
(Rana lessonae), water frog (Rana esculenta) and frog Black-headed
Gull (Rana ridibunda), Common Newt (Pelobates fuscus), Great Crested
Newt (Triturus cristatus) and Common Newt (T. vulgaris).
Five
species of reptiles have been found, these are the sand lizard
(Lacerta agilis), the viviparous lizard (L. vivipara), the slow worm
(Anquis fragilis), the grass snake (Natrix natrix) and the viper
berus.
Mammals include the species listed in the Polish Red
Data Book of Animals, such as Lesser Trichinella (Neomys anomalus),
bats: silver-plated spotted moss (Vespertilio murinus), European
marsh moth (Nyctalus noctula) and Western barbastellus (Barbastella
barbastellus), porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) and bats gray
(Halichoerus grypus). There are also species rare all over Europe,
such as European beaver (Castor fiber), European otter (Lutra
lutra), 10 species of bats, red fox (Vulpes vulpes), European badger
(Meles meles), European hare (Lepus europaeus), roe deer European
red deer (Capreolus capreolus) and European red deer (Cervus
elaphus).
Tourist attractions
Moving dunes, with the highest - Łączka and
Czołpińska
The Natural History Museum of the Słowiński National Park
in Smołdzino
Museum of the Slovinian Village in Kluki
The Czołpino
lighthouse, 25 m high, and the Lighthouse nature path
Rowokół hill,
115 m high, the highest hill on the Słowiński Coast, the holy mountain
of Kashubia, with an observation tower and the "Rowokół" nature path. By
2019, on the hill, within the protected area, the Smołdzino commune, in
accordance with the decision received from the Minister of the
Environment, Jan Szyszka, is to begin the construction of a wooden and
brick chapel. st. Nicholas.
German training ground from World War II
on the Łebska Spit near Rąbka