Current view: Text account
Site description (2000 baseline):
Site location and context
A stretch of the Barycz river valley between ¯migród in the west and the vicinity of Przygodzice in the east. Habitats include five large and five small complexes of fishponds, totalling 130 ponds in all, as well as surrounding meadows, arable fields, marshy areas and forests. Extensive meadows at Odolanów are mainly wet and have a dense drainage system which is cleared every few years with limited effectiveness. Mechanized hay-cutting is carried out in June and July. Some fish-eating birds are controlled (mainly
Ardea cinerea and
Phalacrocorax carbo).
An important area for breeding, moulting and migrating waterbirds. A total of 276 bird species have been recorded (including 126 waterbirds), of which 166 have bred (including 56 waterbirds).
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
Mechanical deepening of the fish-ponds by bulldozers destroys aquatic vegetation and deepens pond margins. Other problems are the disturbance of birds during the breeding season by fish-farming activity and osier harvesting, tree-felling on the pond dams during the breeding season, pollution of the water, air and soil (`Other'), and the drainage of alder woodland. The site is an amalgamation of six sites (the former PL047-PL052) identified in the previous pan-European IBA inventory (Grimmett and Jones 1989).
National High
International Partial5,324 ha of IBA covered by Nature Reserve (Stawy Milickie, 5,324 ha). 49 ha of IBA covered by Nature Reserve (Wydymacz, 49 ha). 25,700 ha of IBA covered by Landscape Park (Dolina Baryczy, 87,040 ha). 1,700 ha of IBA covered by Protected Landscape Area (Wzgórza Ostrzeszowskie i Kotlina Odolanowska, 68,000 ha). 5 ha of IBA covered by Nature Monument (Las Pardoliñski, 5 ha). 5,324 ha of IBA covered by Ramsar Site (Stawy Milickie, 5,324 ha).
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Barycz river valley (Poland). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/barycz-river-valley-iba-poland on 23/12/2024.