Mazury Forest Mire

Mazury, Poland’s largest Lake District, consists of over 2000 lakes connected by small streams and rivers. This magnificent region is often referred to as the land of a thousand lakes that spans over 200 miles and developed several tens of millennia ago as a result of the activity of the Scandinavian ice sheet. By progressing and retreating, it formed the currently forested undulating hills and extensive plains. Wetlands, rivers, and lakes developed in depressions. In addition to large lakes surrounded by forests, the area features several tens of smaller lakes. Many of them are dystrophic lakes with accompanying peatland vegetation. A number of important wetland habitat-types in the Mazury region are protected under the EU Natura 2000 Network, including bog woodland, temperate woodland and natural eutrophic lakes. These sites are an important part of a network of Boreal habitats that act as havens for migratory birds.