Red Marsh (Czerwone Bagno) at Grzędy

Czerwone Bagno, the Red Marsh, is one of the wildest places in Central Europe: raised bogs with stunted pines and birches, bog forest and old dunes roamed by moose and wolves. It has been protected for almost a hundred years and is now a 2,569-hectare strict protection zone of Biebrza National Park. You cannot enter it, but a trail from Grzędy leads along a boardwalk to its very edge and a viewing platform.

History: a reserve for the moose

The Czerwone Bagno reserve was created in 1926 to save a moose population on the brink of extinction. Between the wars there was also a neighbouring reserve at Grzędy, protecting natural woodland. In 1981 the two were merged, enlarging the protected area to more than 11,600 ha. When Biebrza National Park was established in 1993, the Red Marsh became a strict protection zone where nature is left entirely to itself.

The Czerwone Bagno trail

The park describes Grzędy, where the trail starts, as one of the wildest corners of the Biebrza valley, with everything from peat bogs, alder swamps and pine and oak-hornbeam forests to sandy dunes and grasslands. The educational trail leaves from the forester's lodge and the park's field education centre along a forest track; it is about 4.3 km to the start of the boardwalk. From there a wooden boardwalk crosses bog forest to a viewing platform at the edge of the strict reserve. Along the way you will see peatland plants such as marsh Labrador tea and bog bilberry. You return the same way.

Who lives here

Bogs with stunted trees are prime habitat for moose, red deer and roe deer, and the area is home to wolf packs and lynx. White-tailed eagles, golden eagles and lesser spotted eagles nest here. Strictly protected plants include dwarf birch, round-leaved sundew, Moor-king lousewort and marsh saxifrage. Seeing a moose is never guaranteed, but dawn and dusk give you the best chance.

Did you know?

• Grzędy was once called "Polish Siberia": in the 19th century people exiled by the Tsarist authorities were settled here, and the old village ceased to exist after 1945.
• In 1943 German forces destroyed Grzędy village and murdered its inhabitants in reprisal for sabotage.
• On 8–9 September 1944 the 9th Mounted Rifles Regiment of the Home Army, the Polish wartime underground army, fought here; about 100 partisans died, including their commander Captain Wiktor Konopka "Grom". The park calls it the largest partisan battle in Podlaskie province.
• Grzędy is also home to an animal rehabilitation centre and a breeding centre for the konik, a primitive Polish horse breed.

Tripto tip

There is a parking area at Grzędy, open daily from 4:00 to 22:00, with toilets beyond the barrier. Entry to Biebrza National Park requires a ticket, which you can buy at sales points or online at biebrza.eparki.pl and must carry with you. Allow 3–4 hours for the walk to the platform and back; the stretch to the boardwalk can also be cycled. The park is open from dawn to dusk, and you may only use marked trails. Check for closures and boardwalk conditions before you go, and in summer bring mosquito and tick repellent.