Lake Gaudy Nature Reserve

Lake Gaudy covers 152 hectares, yet it is nowhere deeper than 2 metres, and its bed is covered by sediment several metres thick. Vast, dangerous marshes surround it, protected as a nature reserve since 1957. This is not a place for swimming or kayaking but for binoculars: 124 bird species have been recorded here, 43 of them on the list of species threatened in Europe.

A reserve in a glacial trough

The lake lies in the municipality of Susz, about 20 km north-west of Iława, within the Iława Lake District Landscape Park, in the region of western Masuria. It is 2.5 km long and up to 1 km wide. It fills the middle of a narrow glacial trough that runs from Lake Płaskie in the east almost to Lake Burgal in the west. The shoreline is simple and almost entirely overgrown with reeds, and plants with floating leaves are nearly absent. The reserve covers the lake and the marshes adjoining it to the east: sedge beds, reedbeds and extensive alder swamps, gradually being colonised by willow, alder and birch.

What lives here

According to the landscape park authority in Jerzwałd, the threatened European species found here include bittern, black stork, ferruginous duck, gadwall, garganey, black kite, white-tailed eagle, lesser spotted eagle, common crane, spotted crake, little crake, little gull and black tern. The lake and marshes are hunting grounds for the white-tailed eagle, and the common goldeneye, the only Polish duck that nests in tree holes, breeds here. In the thickets you can hear river warbler, grasshopper warbler, bluethroat, nightingale and water rail. Rarer mammals include elk (moose) and otter, and beavers were reintroduced in 1998.

Interesting facts

In autumn the marshes serve as a roost for cranes. In the 1980s flocks of 2,000–3,000 birds were counted here; today groups of a few hundred are seen. The reserve lies within two Natura 2000 sites at once: "Ostoja Iławska" and "Lasy Iławskie".

Tripto tip

You cannot reach the shore: the marshes are extensive and dangerous, and entering the reserve outside designated places is forbidden. The best views of the lake are from the villages of Rudniki and Kamieniec, on the yellow nature and history trail. Fishing is banned from 1 March to 30 September, as is cutting reeds and rushes. Bring binoculars or a spotting scope, come early in the morning or before dusk, and look for cranes in autumn, during migration. Allow 1–2 hours for a stop with some birdwatching.