Biebrza National Park, Poland

https://www.biebrza.org.pl/151,the-biebrza-national-park

https://poland.pl/tourism/national-parks/biebrza-national-park/

Home of wolves, beaver and great snipe, Biebrza, at 600 square metres, is Poland’s largest national park. It’s a gorgeous place, encompassing rivers, marshes, wetlands and woodlands. Much of it is so remote the Nazis could not penetrate it during World War 2, meaning it was a refuge for larger animals such as elk and red deer which would otherwise have been killed for food.

Situated in Poland’s north-east, it is interlaced by hiking and cycle trails and there are also kayaking trails down its many rivers. It’s a must-see for anyone interested in European wildlife.

Watch the video

Why go?

400 elk live here and can be easily spotted in the early morning on the marshes.
You can hire a boat to take you down the river in the evening to see heaps of beavers building dams, eating their dinner of tree branches and resting on the banks.
The hiking trails are well-marked and excellent, taking you through different sorts of terrain, including paths used by wolves and foxes, rivers where otters play, sand dunes with shrubs favoured by butterflies, woodlands full of birds, marshy pools with green toads or striped marsh frogs and observation towers where at certain times of year you can see eagles or other birds of prey.
The scenery is beautiful
There are very few tourists – the occasional visitors are Polish, so whenever you hit the trails you’ll probably have the area to yourself.

Getting there

Biebrza National Park is in north-eastern Poland near the border with Belarus.

Train

There are several trains a day from Warsaw station to Osowiec-Twierdza station which is the gateway to the national park, and the trip takes between three and four hours. The Field Educational Centre with paths, watchtowers, information boards and a boardwalk is near the station, as is a campsite. Many of the information boards are in English. However, no-one at the centre may speak English.

There are guesthouses and hotels. Many guesthouses do not offer meals, but hotels generally do.

Car
If you have a car, you can travel around more freely. Note, however, that very few people speak English and many routes are down unmarked tracks and minor roads. If you have good maps, though, and are happy to get lost which is often the best part of your adventure as you can end up in the most exciting places, it should be fun. Polish people are friendly and will help you. Book accommodation in advance, especially at the weekends.

Wildlife tour

https://wildpoland.com/

The best way to see much of the area and the wildlife in it is to arrange a wildlife tour in advance. Wild Poland is a Polish-run company that offers fantastic trips to the national park with guaranteed viewing of beavers, probable elk sightings and lots of birds, frogs and other wildlife. The English-speaking guides are passionate and knowledgeable about the area. We went on a tour combining a trip to the national park with a tour of Białowieża Forest and saw heaps.

Watch the video

If you’re interested in Białowieża Forest, watch the video

What to see

Mammals

Eurasian beaver Castor fiber

https://www.livescience.com/52460-beavers.html

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/b/beaver/

You know what it’s like when you go on a boat trip to see an animal. You’re always sceptical about whether the wildlife will make an appearance. This trip guarantees sightings and we weren’t disappointed. We sailed up the river at twilight sipping bison grass vodka and the torches carried by our guide and the boatmen lit up many of these endearing, furry, wet-whiskered creatures. Many were carrying massive tree branches to fortify their dams or pushing them through the water while they swam behind them. Others were wading at the river edges or resting on the grassy banks eating the wood.

10 fun facts about Eurasian beavers

They are vegetarians. They don’t eat fish. Beavers eat leaves, tree roots and bark, and aquatic plants.
Eurasian beavers are monogamous and social, living in homes with last year’s juveniles and their young, and in colonies with other family groups.
Baby beavers are called kits. At around 2, the kits leave the family and make their own dam. At 3, they find a monogamous mate.
They are the second largest rodent in the world after the capybara.
Their dams are made from tree trunks and branches, grasses and moss plastered with mud. They have underwater entrances so beavers can access the water from their homes (they can stay underwater for up to 15 minutes). They also have an inner chamber where the animals keep dry and sleep.
The dams create an area of still water to protect the beavers from predators and allow them to easily push branches to fortify their dams.
Beavers can live up to 24 years.
Eurasian beavers are nocturnal and very active, scurrying around building and fortifying dams and catching food, hence the term ‘busy as a beaver’.
Beavers were hunted for their fur and nearly became extinct. Luckily, they are now
not considered endangered and are stable in much of their range. They were reintroduced to Scotland and Devon in England in 2016.
Beavers have a fantastic role to play in ecosystem preservation. Their activities create wetlands, promote new tree growth, filter pollutants and create habitat for other native animals.

See beavers on the video

Eurasian elk Alces alces

http://factsanddetails.com/asian/Northern_Asian_and_European_Animals/sub2_8b/entry-4914.htmlhttps://www.animalfactsencyclopedia.com/Elk-facts.html

We could not believe how massive these animals were when we saw them in the tall wetland grasses. The grasses grew just above our heads but the heads, antlers and shoulders of these gentle creatures were above them, moving along like the prows of ships floating through a green ocean, while their babies skipped beside them, showing tantalising glimpses of cute little heads and legs. These beige animals have impressive antlers and elongated faces.

10 fun facts about Eurasian elk

They are the largest species of deer in the world, and the largest land animal in Europe.
Elk like cold climates because they cannot sweat and their digestion of leaves, twigs, shoots, bark and buds generates a lot of heat. They are happy living in snowy areas.
They like wallowing in swampy mud or water and will happily submerge themselves
so only their noses are above water in summer to avoid mosquitos and other biting insects.
Elk love eating aquatic plants, possibly because they contain salt which the rest of
their diet is free of.
Elk are placid and sociable animals, living in herds to protect themselves from predators. Males can be aggressive in rutting season in autumn and if they lock antlers in the water, both can drown.
Elk have two large upper teeth that scientists believe were once long tusks like those of a walrus. It is thought that when the elk developed antlers as a weapon, it no longer needed the tusks.
All male, and some female, elk grow large antlers. These are made of bone, fall off
and are regrown each year. Like tree branches, the antlers are up to 2 metres (6 ½ feet wide) and up to 30 kilograms (66 pounds). Antlers have six branches.
If elk need to graze, they will kneel as their heads do not reach the ground when they are standing.
In many countries such as Sweden, elk are hunted as a trophy animal but hunting is mostly sustainable and the elk are not considered threatened.
Elk are also called moose.

See elk on the video

Roe deer Capreolus capreolus

https://www.arkive.org/

https://www.deerworlds.com/roe-deer/

These small, graceful animals are super cute. We were lucky enough to see a mum with two young, called kids, in the grasslands. Kids have spotted coats for the first six weeks of their lives. While the mum watched, alert for danger, the kids played, butting each other and leaping around. It was one of the highlights of the trip.

10 fun facts about roe deer

The roe deer is the only hoofed animal that has delayed development of the fertilised egg. The deer mate in August but pregnancies do not begin until between the end of December and early January, to prevent births occurring during the harsh winter.
The female deer gives birth to between one and three kids in May and June - twins are very common.
Roe deer are active by day and night, but tend to be most active at dawn and dusk.
Roe deer do not have specialised habitat needs – they can live in many types of woodland, on moorland and wetland, and even in large gardens. As a result, they are found in most of Europe, including England and Scotland.
Roe deer live up to 15 years.
Their diet is versatile – grasses, leaves of various trees, ferns, acorns and shrubs.
When they are alarmed, roe deer bark, a bit like dogs.
They are fussy about grass, refusing to eat ‘dirty’ grass that has been trampled or fouled by farm animals. They enjoy clean grass that is full of moisture.
Kids are left alone for the first six weeks of their life as they can’t keep up with their mother while she is grazing. The white spots on their fur help camouflage them from predators.
Humans can often find young deer but should leave them alone. If the mother deer returns and smells humans, she will abandon her young.

See roe deer on the video

Birds

Great-spotted woodpecker Dendrocopos major
There are 10 species of woodpecker in Poland, including the wryneck. The great-spotted woodpecker is a medium-sized species. We saw these fairly common and attractive woodpeckers a lot, as they are not as shy as some of the other species.

They will burrow into tree trunks to create nest sites for their chicks and to find insects and grubs. They also eat seeds and nuts.

We often saw them perching on the sides of tree trunks feeding their young or hammering on the trunks of fallen trees, accompanied by their young, to find insects. They will share their food with their young.

See great-spotted woodpeckers:

on the video
in Białowieża Forest.

Eurasian pygmy owl Glaucidium passerinum

The smallest owl in Europe, this beautiful tawny and cream speckled owl is active during the day but hard to see as it roosts in high branches of tall trees. We were fortunate to spot it on the side of a track we were walking down. It was on a perch from where it had a good view of the surrounding area.

Our guide told us it would swoop down on small birds, its main food. These feisty creatures will also attack birds their own size, such as larger woodpeckers; small mammals such as shrews and voles; and lizards, bats, insects and fish. A varied diet!

Pygmy owls do not normally hunt at night.

See pygmy owls on the video.

Eurasian crane Grus grus
https://www.euronatur.org/en/what-we-do/endangered-species/crane/brief-fact-sheet-on-the-crane-grus-grus/
The crane is Europe's largest bird. It is between 110 and 130 centimetres (3 1/2 to 4 1/4 feet) tall and has a wing span of 220 to 245 centimetres (7 1/4 to 8 feet) tall. European cranes live in Central Europe and rely on wetlands for habitat, and food including insects, small frogs and reptiles. Water of at least 30 centimetres (1 foot) depth provides a safe place to roost and nest.

We saw cranes quite often in marshy areas of Biebrza National Park, foraging in the wetlands. We even witnessed a mating display where the male hopped from foot to foot while waving his wings around and the female looked singularly unimpressed. Had she liked him, she would have joined the dance.

See European cranes on the video.

White stork Ciconia ciconia
Poland is one of the countries the white stork most commonly migrates to in Spring, with 25% of the entire population choosing to spend their summers there. Poles see the coming of the bird as a symbol of good luck indicating the end of winter and also as a tourism drawcard, so welcome the bird building its massive nest on chimney tops, rooftops and tree branches, and between electrical wires. Some residents design special platforms to encourage the birds to breed on their properties.

Their young are born in May or June. In winter, these attractive birds migrate to Africa where it is warmer.

Seventy-five percent of Poland’s migrating population of white storks live in the north-east which has farmlands and wetlands, their ideal habitats.

We saw white storks everyday we were in Poland, feeding their one or two chicks in their huge nests or foraging in the marshes for the insects, frogs, lizards and small mammals and birds they enjoy.

See white storks on the video.

Other animals

Pond frog Pelophylax lessonae
We saw a lot of different amphibians in Poland including the striped marsh frog, the common toad and the common green toad, but this little creature was among the most endearing. We saw several pond frogs in a pool in the grounds of a lodge we were staying in, making a heck of a noise as it was mating season and males, like the one in this video, were calling. There were also a lot of breeding pairs riding round on each other’s backs.

Pond frogs are common in Europe and are not threatened.

European frogs and toads in general are not yet threatened by chytrid fungus which is threatening to wipe out amphibian species across South and Central America, Asia, Africa and Australia, and are generally thriving.

See pond frogs on the video.

Grass snake Natrix natrix
The grass snake we saw was in the pool with the pond frogs, just biding its time before it fed on one of them. The frogs, intent on mating, ignored the snake which floated there, still and silent. I felt sorry for the frogs, but that’s nature.

Grass snakes like to hang round water as they feed almost exclusively on amphibians.

They are non-venomous, non-aggressive snakes.

Do you have questions or comments about this article? Email maddestinations@gmail.com or leave a comment under the video.