PL026
Tuchola Forest


Country/territory: Poland

IBA criteria met: C1, C2, C6 (2010)
For more information about IBA criteria, please click here

Area: 360,000 hectares (3,600.00 km2)

Ogólnopolskie Towarzystwo Ochrony Ptaków
IBA conservation status
Year of assessment (most recent) State (condition) Pressure (threat) Response (action)
2013 not assessed high medium
For more information about IBA monitoring, please click here


Site description (2000 baseline)
The area is part of the great Tuchola `sandr' (outwash plain of glacial origin). The terrain is varied, with elevated plains, extensive hills, many hummocks, valleys and troughs, and is drained by the Brda river and its many tributaries (the largest being the Zbrzyca). Some of the rivers have steep gradients and strong flows. Of 60 lakes in this area, the largest is Charzykowskie lake (1,363 ha), and the deepest is Ostrowite lake (43 m deep). Many are flow-lakes, being part of the Brda river system, and most have low to moderate levels of nutrients. Forests are dominated by pine Pinus. On richer soils there are dry-ground forests of hornbeam Carpinus, birch Betula, beech Fagus and oak Quercus, and near watercourses and reservoirs there is riverside carr and forest of alder Alnus. There are fens, connected with rivers and lakes, as well as (in hollows) raised bogs and transitional mires.

Key biodiversity
An important wintering site for swans Cygnus (all three European species), which also holds 10% of the national population of Pandion haliaetus on passage. A total of 107 species have been recorded breeding; breeding species of global conservation concern that do not meet IBA criteria: Haliaeetus albicilla (three pairs).


Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Tuchola Forest (Poland). Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/tuchola-forest-iba-poland on 23/12/2024.