Miasto i Gmina Gniew

“Lower Vistula Valley” PLB 040003 – The Area of Special Bird Protection

On the stretch from Włocławek to Przegalina there is the area of special protection – “Lower Vistula Valley” designated under the Council Directive 79/409/EWG of April 2, 1979 on the protection of wild birds. In this area, Vistula maintains its natural character. It flows slowly, in the natural riverbed rich in silts, islands and sandbanks. Near the river there are numerous oxbow lakes and low fens. The banks are covered with willow thickets and flood plain forests, there are also fields and pastures. River slopes are perfect for the development of xerothermic grasslands and slope hornbeam. Bird species, which numbers qualify the mainstay to the international bird area (so-called qualifying species): Common Goldeneye, corncrake, Little Tern, Kingfisher. Other bird species listed in Annex I of the Bird Directive, established in the refuge: red-throated loon, black-throated loon, bittern, little egret, great egret, black stork, white stork, Bewick’s swan, Whooper Swan, Barnacle goose, smew, honey buzzard, black kite, kite, eagle, harrier, marsh harrier, osprey, lesser kestrel, merlin, little crake, crane, avocet, Golden plover, Battalion, bar-tailed godwit, wood sandpiper, terek, gull, small gull, tern, common tern, river tern, black tern, kingfisher, European roller, black woodpecker, average woodpecker, tawny pipit, barred warbler, red-backed shrike.