The Orel Polesie National Park

The Orel Polesie National Park

Orel Polesie is inextricably linked with the name of Ivan Turgenev, who described the local places in his "Notes of a hunter". Since then, the charm of the local landscapes has not faded at all.

The Orеl Polesie National Park is located in the northwestern part of the Orel region on the territory of the Khotynetsky and Znamensky districts. The park was organized on the initiative of E. S. Stroev in 1994, on January 9.

The total area of the national park is 84205 hectares. In the protected area, there is an arboretum, a zoo complex, two hotel complexes.

The relief of the park is strongly indented, dissected by river valleys, many gullies and ravines. Most of the river network of the National Park belongs to the Oka Basin. The territory of the park is often swampy, because groundwater comes to the surface.

Mixed forests dominate in the Orеl Polesie National Park. The flora of the park is represented by 860 species, which include 173 species of endangered and rare plants. The following types of plants can be seen on protected lands: aspen, European spruce, platanolist maple, sticky alder, linden, common pine, birch, petiolate oak, common ash.

Also in the park there are more than 30 protected and rare plants: chess grouse, Siberian iris, wild cherry (bear onion), neottianta klobuchkovaya, moonlight reviving, open lumbago, chilim (floating hornbill), young shoots.

The Orel Polesie National Park is unique in its abundance and diversity of wildlife. There are 267 species of vertebrates, of which the most numerous are birds (174 species). In addition, there are 7 species of reptiles, 11 species of amphibians, 26 species of fish, 49 species of mammals in the protected area.

The Orel Polesie Park has become home to the following species of animals and birds: steppe polecat, black woodpecker, grouse, capercaillie, red deer, quail, groundhog, gray partridge, otter, beaver, wild boar, roe deer, lynx, elk, muskrat, and mink. The park is home to 87 species of rare animals: golden eagle, lesser spotted eagle, great spotted eagle, sterlet, mnemosyne, European bison, grey shrike, black stork, snake-eater, Russian muskrat, giant evening bird.

Today there are about 200 bison in the national park, which are listed in the World Red Book. In addition, work is being carried out here aimed at restoring the population of the Russian muskrat, an ancient species endemic to Russia.

The attractiveness and uniqueness of these places in the center of the Central Russian upland is given not only by the beauty of nature and the presence of unique natural objects, but also by a rich historical and cultural heritage.

Archaeological monuments on the territory of the park are diverse - the Radovishche settlement, the oldest of the fortified settlements known in the Orel region, founded in the VI-V centuries BC; settlements near the village of Bulatovo I-III centuries AD; the settlement near the village of Khotiml-Kuzmenkovo, which was the center of princely power when Kievan Rus was. In later periods, the history of these places is associated with Russian epics about Ilya Muromets, the Robber Nightingale, as well as with the famous Turgenev's "Notes of a Hunter", conveying the beauty and richness of nature of these places.