“Don’t step off the path please!”
I find I have transgressed the rules of the legendary Białowieźa Forest National Park’s Strict Reserve Area by taking a half-step into light undergrowth to point out a particularly bizarre fungus, dead man’s finger.
The notion that there should be no human impact whatsoever on this particular ecosystem is deeply ingrained in its management, and is firmly interpreted by our guide, without whom the public cannot enter this part of the forest.
Białowieźa, a vast forest straddling Poland and Belarus, has long been the epitome of “unspoilt nature” in Europe, and with good reason, but not without the questions that phrase raises.
Very little of it has ever been farmed, large areas have never been logged, and it is home to threatened and almost archaic animals such as European bison (some 30 per cent of the wild population), has a fair complement of wolves, lynx and beavers, and at least a dozen species of very active woodpeckers, not to mention owls.
The European bison (some 30 per cent of the wild population) are based in Białowieźa, a vast forest straddling Poland and Belarus
It is exceptionally rich in tree species such as Norway spruce and hornbeam and small-leaved lime, and it is common enough to find oak trees several centuries old towering into the canopy.
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