Oxbow lakes in Stobrawa Landscape Park

The Oder has not always flowed where it does today. The traces of its old bends are oxbow lakes – crescent-shaped ponds on the valley floor, which the managers of Stobrawa Landscape Park count among its most valuable natural sites. On their surface the water chestnut forms rosettes – a plant strictly protected in Poland – while kites and kingfishers hunt above the water.

What an oxbow lake is

An oxbow lake lies on the floor of a river valley and is a section of the former channel, cut off from the present current by a natural levee. It is usually crescent-shaped, because it most often forms when the river breaks through the neck of a meander and takes a short cut. Some oxbows are the result of river regulation. Over time they silt up with flood deposits and become overgrown until only a marshy hollow with peat remains – so every oxbow is nature in motion.

Oxbows in the Oder valley

The park was created in 1999 and covers more than 60,000 ha in the north of the Opole region. Its southern boundary follows the Oder and the Eastern Neisse, and its most valuable parts lie in the river valleys: along the Oder stretch oak-hornbeam and riparian forests, wet meadows and oxbows overgrown with aquatic and marsh vegetation. Next to the water chestnut grows a floating fern, Salvinia natans. From the air you can clearly see how the crescent-shaped oxbows cut into the fields and meadows of the valley.

What you can see

• Water chestnut – its leaf rosettes measure 15–50 cm across, and its spiny fruits resemble an anchor.
• Floating watermoss (Salvinia natans) – a small fern drifting on the surface.
• Birds: around 151 bird species breed in the park, including the red kite (the park's symbol), the black kite, the white-tailed eagle and the lesser spotted eagle.
• The Oder valley mosaic: riparian woods, oak-hornbeam forests, wet meadows and floodwater pools.

Did you know?

Between 1870 and 1980 the water chestnut lost 82% of its known sites in Poland, and around the turn of the 21st century it was known from only about 40 locations, mainly in the upper Vistula basin and along the upper and middle Oder. The oxbows of the Opole stretch of the Oder are therefore among its important refuges. In recent years the plant has been returning to some of its former sites.

Tripto tips

The oxbows are not a single attraction with a car park and ticket office, but scattered pools across the Oder valley. It is best to look for them with a map, by bike or on foot, along farm tracks and embankments. The most interesting time is from late spring to the end of summer, when the aquatic plants are in full growth and birds are breeding. Bring binoculars and insect repellent, stay on the paths during the breeding season, and after the Oder floods check whether the valley is waterlogged.