Sporovsky Biological Reserve

Sporovskoe fen mire
Yaselda river fen
Visitor centre in Visokoje village

Sporovsky Biological Reserve

  • Country: 
    Belarus
  • Site number: 
    1007
  • Area: 
    19,384 ha
  • Designation date: 
    22-11-1999
  • Coordinates: 
    52°25'N 25°19'E
Materials presented on this website, particularly maps and territorial information, are as-is and as-available based on available data and do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the Ramsar Convention concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

Overview

Situated along the middle course of the Yaselda River, the Site includes waterlogged floodplains, lakes, reedbeds, sedge fen mires, and mineral islands. The floodplain fen mires stretch for about 35 kilometres along the Yaselda River and cover 75% of the Site’s area. The Site provides important habitats for rare plants and animals, including 15 plant species and 48 animal species registered on the national Red List, including the greater spotted eagle Aquila clanga and the short-eared owl Asio flammeus. The fen mires support over 1% of the European population of the globally threatened aquatic warbler Acrocephalus paludicola. Fifteen species of dragonflies can be found in the Site and the globally threatened beetle Dytiscus latissimus has been recorded in oxbows of the Yaselda River. The River and Sporovskoe Lake provide freshwater for agricultural needs. By accumulating water during the spring and summer floods, the mires also prevent inundation of settlements and agricultural land. The Reserve’s territory is used by local people and visitors for recreation and amateur fishing. There is an education centre and ecological path. The main threats to the ecological character of the Site relate to disruption of the hydrological regime, which leads to the overgrowth of shrubs and reeds and the gradual reduction in the open sedge mire which is critical habitat for the aquatic warbler. However, the hydrological regime has improved in recent years with the implementation of a management plan.

Administrative region: 
Brest Oblast

  • National legal designation: 
    • biological reserve of national importance - Sporovsky
  • Last publication date: 
    08-11-2016

Downloads

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