Lake Zielonka and the 'Plant Communities around Lake Zielonka' nature trail

Lake Zielonka lies right in the middle of Puszcza Zielonka Landscape Park, in a large forest clearing around the village of the same name. A nature trail called "Plant Communities around Lake Zielonka" loops round the water, and in a single walk it takes you past reed beds, dry grassland and several types of woodland. The free Forest Arboretum is right next door, so one car park gives you two quite different outings.

A trail with a frog for a logo

The trail is 3 km long, forms a loop and has 8 stops with information boards. It runs from the car park along the lakeshore, then through patches of forest and back to the start. Its theme is the variety of habitats – plants tied to water, grassland and forest communities – and the changes that nature undergoes under human influence. The trail's symbol is a frog, and in 2004 the Greater Poland Landscape Parks authority published a guidebook to it. Walking it takes about 2 hours; if you work through the activity sheets, allow more than 5 hours.

What to see along the way

• The view from the starting car park – it sits on a rise overlooking the whole forest enclave of Zielonka.
• The lakeshore with its belt of reeds and aquatic plants – the first habitat type described on the boards.
• Forest sections of the loop, where different stands of trees grow side by side.
• The Forest Arboretum of Poznań University of Life Sciences, founded in 1979 on the initiative of Prof. Jan Meixner: almost 1,100 species and varieties of trees and shrubs on 86 ha.
• The "Red Cottages", foresters' houses from 1908, where the Trakt Bednarski begins – an old trade route towards Bednary and Gniezno.

A little history

Zielonka is about 7 km from Murowana Goślina. A mill owned by Jan Iwiński worked here as early as 1580, and the village was once known as Zielona Dąbrowa ("Green Oak Wood"). Today it is above all a forestry research and teaching centre of the Poznań life sciences university, with the arboretum, a weather station and a tree nursery.

Fishing and swimming

Fishing is not allowed in the arboretum pond, but it is on Lake Zielonka: you need a Polish fishing card and a permit bought at the office of the university's Experimental Forest Station (tel. +48 61 812 22 51). The lake is not a bathing site – the park points visitors to the lifeguarded beaches on Lake Stęszewskie and Lake Kamińskie.

Tripto tip

Leave your car at the car park by the campfire site at the entrance to Zielonka – the arboretum asks visitors not to drive further in; the car park is unattended. The trail is open all year and free of charge. The arboretum is open daily: 6:00–22:00 from 1 April to 30 October and 8:00–17:00 from 1 November to 31 March. There is no public transport to Zielonka – trains and buses go as far as Murowana Goślina, leaving about 8 km on foot or by bike. Skip the forest walk in thunderstorms or strong wind.