"Belogorie", nature reserve. State natural reserve "Belogorye" (Belgorod region)

Forest-on-Vorskle is located in the south-westBelgorod region. This is a nature reserve, created to protect the 100-year old oak forest, as well as the most valuable 300-year old oak forests. Its territory is limited by rivers: from the east and south - Vorskla, from the west - Gotney. On the boundaries of the reserve are villages.

History

The reserve "Belogorie" in Belgorod region is interesting not only in a natural way. He is of no less interest in the historical plan.

Since ancient times, this territory was a place of strugglewith nomads - Tatar-Mongol hordes, Polovtsians and troops of the Crimean Tatars. Dense forests have always been a reliable defense in the passage of cavalry. Later, people began to build forest "zaseki" - a kind of barrier from fallen trees. In the middle of the 17th century they constituted an 800-kilometer construction along the Vorskla River, which included jails, earthen ramparts and even fortresses.

During the reign of Peter the Great, the oak forests were very strictly guarded, due to the fact that a lot of timber, especially oak, was required for the construction of the marine fleet.

Elf, oak and ash cutting for other purposeswas punishable by death. In this area Count Sheremet'ev arranged a forestry hunting farm, protected from interference by strangers. Thanks to this, the pristine beauty of the forest is preserved here.

Creation of a reserve

After the October Revolution, the forest began to protectnobody, and people just began to destroy it barbarously, and also to kill the animals living in it. Almost completely were exterminated foxes, roe deer, martens.

Thanks to SI's active work. Malyshev on these lands was created by the well-known to many specialists the Les-na-Vorskle reserve. The Great Patriotic War inflicted enormous damage on him. Immediately after the war, it was transformed into an educational and experimental forestry. Only in 1979 he again received the status of a reserve.

Nature of the Belgorod Region

This is the territory located in the heartour country. The Belgorod region is a region of Russia, remote from 500-700 km from Moscow, on the border with Ukraine. The major cities in the region are Belgorod, with a population of 356,000, Stary Oskol (260,000), Gubkin (90,000)

The Belgorod region is part of theCentral Chernozem Region and the Central Federal District of the Russian Federation. In the south and west borders with the Kharkov, Lugansk and Sumy regions of Ukraine, in the north-west and north - with the Kursk region, in the east its neighbor - the Voronezh region.

The length of the boundaries of the region is about 1150 km, from540 km of them are on the border with Ukraine. The total area exceeds 27.1 thousand km ², from the north to the south the area stretches for 190 km, from east to west for 270 km.

The Belgorod region is located on the Central Russianelevations, on its southwestern and southern slopes, in the basins of the Don and Dnepr rivers, in the forest-steppe zone. Its highest point is at an altitude of 277 m above sea level - located in the Prokhorov district. The lowest point is in the valley of the Seversky Donets and Oskol rivers. The territory is densely cut with beams, ravines, on the territory of which there are oak forests.

Rivers

Over 500 rivers flow through the territory of the region andsmall streams. Most of them belong to small rivers. Their length does not exceed 100 km. More extensive rivers are Oskol (220), Vorskla (115), Seversky Donets (110) and Tikhaya Pine (105). The river network is more than 5000 km.

Relief of the territory

"Belogorie" is a nature reserve, differentvarious relief. A network of beams and ravines is widely developed. The climate of this territory is moderately continental. The warm period lasts 155 days. Winter is windy, cold, with frequent snowstorms. Spring is dry, short, frosts do not happen often. Summers are hot and long. In general, the area refers to climatically favorable.

The groundwater is quite deep,tree roots do not have access to them, therefore practically the only source of moisture is atmospheric precipitation. The river Vorskla is very calm, the current is quiet, so it overgrew with mud and other aquatic vegetation. The ice cover remains from early December until the second half of March.

The State Nature Reserve "Belogorye"has more than 20 types of soil. The most common are gray weakly and medium podzolized loams. The fertility of these soils is associated with the arrival of plant residues, which, when decomposed, release many nutrients.

Flora

Reserves of the Belgorod region are distinguished by a variety of vegetation. "Belogorie" is no exception.

The most cold-resistant plants are birch, pine and spruce. Over time, the oak pushed aside the birch and pine.

There are 550 registered in the reservespecies of flowering plants and ferns, about 25 species of moss, 61 species of lichens, and about 900 species of fungi. In most of this area, the oak tree grows, there is a small admixture of other rocks.

Forest systems are distinguished by a tiered structure. On the first tier are 200-300-year-old huge oaks. The second tier is occupied by small-leaved linden, mapan-platy, ash-tree, ilm. The third tier is assigned to small-sized trees - wild apple-trees, pears.

The next tier are bushes - spindlesEuropean and warty, dog rose, maple field, etc. The grass cover represents forest vegetation. In addition, here you can see mosses, algae, lichens.

In different seasons, the grass cover is different. In the early spring, the Hollers holler, the Siberian sparrow, the falcate, the goose bows small and yellow, the bastard predominate here. By the beginning of summer they disappear and in their place appear summer shade-tolerant plants. They are distinguished by white flowers and dark leaves.

Among them, one can distinguish a sedge hairy,stellate lanceolate, smelly chaff, bellflower, medlunitsu obscure, violets pleasant and amazing, cupena. "Belogorye" is a reserve, on the territory of which more than 200 associations have been allocated. There are areas of exotic (rare for a given locality) plants. This is Amur velvet, manchurian and walnuts, Siberian larch, acacia yellow, etc.

The interest of specialists is caused by vegetationforest glades with separately standing century-old oak trees. Next to them live a hedgehog, a common field, a clover of mountain and field, a narrow-leaved bluegrass, a veronica of a hairy, tonkonog.

On the southern slopes are areas of dry steppes. Forest-steppe represents small areas with a predominance of hawthorn, thorn, buckthorn.

The floodplain of Voroskva is distinguished by magnificent meadows with sedge bubble and spicy, manna flowing and large, two-source reed, Beckmannia.

Fauna

Reserves of the Belgorod region are populated by manyquite rare animals. This area is fairly densely populated. To the great regret, it should be noted that "Belogorye" is a reserve on the territory of which, due to the thoughtless activity of man, the deer, the beaver and the otter are completely exterminated. True, in recent years there have appeared a common vole, a hamster gray, a quail, a mole rat, a meadow mint.

"Belogorye" is a nature reserve on the territory of whichinhabited by such rare insects as mahaon, deer beetle, hermit beetle, mnemosyne, subalirium, overflower, blue medal ribbon. They are listed in the Red Book of Russia.

Birds

This is a separate world in the fauna of the reserve. It is no less diverse. The reserve in the early spring is filled with singing of large tits, field sparrows, blue eyes, food, nuthatches. In the woods you can hear the knock of a woodpecker. In March, in the protected areas, you can observe ordinary migratory birds - starlings, rooks, gray herons, finches, white wagtails, black and singing thrushes, various birds of prey.

In the tall hollows in the woods live bats,stone martens, squirrels. Old stumps and basal hollows were habituated to yellow-throated mice, shrubby voles, redheads. The shrews hide in the forest litter. Badgers and foxes find fodder in high-stakes areas. For elk and roe deer, the best treat is a spindle.

On the edge of the forest at night you can see grazingungulates and hares. On sunny days, flowers are surrounded by clouds of bees, butterflies, bumblebees, many animals have chosen "Belozerye". The reserve in the southern part is inhabited by badgers, foxes, raccoon dogs. In the dense thickets of reeds and willow yield offspring of corncrake, marshy droshoid-like warbler. In the marshy places there is a large number of toads and frogs.

I must say that the work to protect the environmentenvironment is bearing fruit. The map of the reserves, which we published in our article, shows how this direction is developing in our country. Throughout the country there are areas where animals feel comfortable under the protection of a person.