Żurawiniec Nature Reserve

Between the housing blocks of Piątkowo and the new estates of Naramowice lies the small Piątkowo Wood, and inside it one of the smallest nature reserves in Poznań. Żurawiniec covers just 1.67 ha and protects a peat bog in a glacial trough. Local people come here for walks, and for years the city has been trying to give the bog back the water that urban development took away.

A peat bog in the middle of the city

The reserve was created in 1959 on the initiative of the botanist Helena Szafran to protect the vegetation of a transitional bog. The bog formed in an elongated hollow with no outflow, a remnant of a glacial channel. A small, shallow pond survives in the southern part.

Plants that once grew here included round-leaved sundew, bog cranberry (żurawina, which gives the reserve its name), bogbean, fen orchid and sphagnum mosses. The growth of the housing estates, however, upset the water balance: rainwater ran into the drains and on to the river instead of soaking into the ground. Most of the bog vegetation disappeared and was replaced by reed beds and alder and riverside woodland. You can still find plants that are rare within the city, such as marsh cinquefoil and marsh pennywort.

Saving the reserve

In 2015 the Poznań municipal forestry service completed a system of pipes that feeds water from storm drains into the reserve and raises the groundwater level. The work was preceded by two years of research by scientists from Adam Mickiewicz University and cost almost PLN 1.4 million. The quantity and quality of the water are monitored. The aim is to restore the bog and return to the idea of an educational reserve.

Tripto tip

The reserve lies by Jasna Rola Street, next to the Żurawiniec estate in Piątkowo. It makes a good short, quiet walk, but do not expect a flowering bog full of sundews: today it is mostly a reed bed with a small pond among the trees. Stay on the paths, as the ground is soft and the area is protected. About an hour is enough for a walk around the reserve and Piątkowo Wood. Nearby, Kokoryczowe Wzgórze in Morasko is also worth a look.