By Stołowe Mountains National Park
Tomasz Mazur, photos by Tadeusz Kandefer
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The Stołowe Mountains National Park
The National Park was created on the 16th of September, 1993. It is situated in the middle Sudeten, in Kłodzko region on the Polish-Czech border.
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The Stolowe Mountains are the Polish part of great sandstone layer situated between the Karkonosze, the Bystrzyckie and the Orlickie Mountains. The Czech part of it bears the name of Broumovska Vrchovina and it's also a protected area (CHKO Broumovsko).
Kopa Smierci (The Death Dome's) view by Tadeusz KandeferStołowe Mountains National Park
Stolowe Mountains - a land born of the sea
The Stolowe Mountains National Park covers the area of 63 square kilometres of their upper part with the culminations of Szczeliniec Wielki (919 m above sea level) and Skalniak (915 m.a.s.l.).
Pasterka's view (2012) by Tadeusz KandeferStołowe Mountains National Park
The Stolowe Mountains are the only example in Poland of mountains built of horizontaly laid rocky layers.
These rocks, called joint sandstones, interlaid with marls were created in the sediments of the sea, which in late Cretaceous period (100 millions years ago) came to this region.
In the process of shaping the Stołowe Mountains the very important part was played by water, not only by erosion of the surface, but also its influence underground in the wellhead zone. In the first case, the chemical and mechanical erosion created fantastic rocky forms in the exposed parts of the joint sandstones.
In the second, the removal of the eroded rock by underground water on the contact of the permeable sandstones with the impermeable marls causes the creation of empty spaces inside the mountain. This is followed by the sandstones shattering and sinking.
Rock formations
The geometry of the forms was shaped by the rock fissuring and their shape resembling buildings, mushrooms, animals and people was determined by different rocky layers and different binding material of the rocks.
Szczeliniec in the wintertime by Tadeusz KandeferStołowe Mountains National Park
Climate and relief
Climate of the Stołowe Mountains is a result of both topographic features and general position of the mountain range from the northwest to the southeast.
The hut on Szczeliniec Wielki by Tadeusz KandeferStołowe Mountains National Park
Westerly winds prevail here, hence the clear influence of the Atlantic climate is present, while the Mediterranean to some extent only.
Stolowe Mountains in the wintertime by Tadeusz KandeferStołowe Mountains National Park
There is a wide diversity of thermal conditions depending on the elevation and the amount of heat received by the north slopes and the south slopes directly exposed to sunrays.
The sea of clouds in Stolowe Mountains by Tadeusz KandeferStołowe Mountains National Park
The temperature inversions in the late autumn and in winter allow us to observe (in these mountains which are not actually very high) the beautiful phenomena "sea of mists", lingering in the valleys while in the sun shines.
Meadows by Rogowa Kopa by Tadeusz KandeferStołowe Mountains National Park
Flora
The present status of the Park's flora was created not only by different habitat conditions. Like in other parts of Sudeten the flora has been transformed by long influence of man.
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The man caused partial deforestation, particularly of lower situated areas; changed water courses and rebuilt natural forest by introducing spruce trees on a large scale.
Various meadows cover an area of about 300 ha. Among them we can easily distinguish marshy meadows overgrown with many protected species. The globe flower, found in big quantities, is considered a symbol of this region.
Beech Forest in Stolowe Mountains by Tadeusz KandeferStołowe Mountains National Park
The lower subalpine broad-leaved forests from natural restocking have only survived in small fragments in hardly accessible land. In rich habitats, these forests are represented by fertile beech woods.
The undergrowth contains numerous species of geophytes (perennial plants that propagates from underground rhizomes, bulbs and tubers) profusely flowering in spring just before the development of beech leaves. They include: ten-leaf toothwort, which is very typical for this community, bulb toothwort, dog's mercury, bear's onion that sometimes covers the whole meadows of the brook valleys, spring snowflake often found in the Park's area, wood anemone and less often found yellow anemony.
Footbridge on Niknaca Laka peat bog by Tadeusz KandeferStołowe Mountains National Park
Peat bogs
Vegetation that is typical for a high peat bog occurs mainly in the "Great Peat Bog of Bators" (Wielkie Torfowisko Batorowskie).
Beside the common peat bog plants, such as narrow-leaved cotton-grass or Vaccinium oxycoccos, there are some rare species: marsh tea, turzyca nitkowata, turzyca skąpokwiatowa (included in the list of endangered plants in Poland) and marsh andromeda.
At present, the most endangered species among the vascular plants inhabited this peat bog seems to be longleaf pine - the species enlisted in the Polish Red Book of Plants. Just here, the species was first described as new for the science in 1837. Now, the longleaf pine population is in very bad condition showing the signs of extinction.
Spruce forest in Stolowe Mountains by Tadeusz KandeferStołowe Mountains National Park
Animals
In the big forest complexes of the Park we can easily come across deer, roe deer, wild boar, fox, squirrels (black and red) and small rodents.
Among not so easily spotted because of nocturnal activity you can find a badger, pine marten, weasel, stoat and polecat. As for insectivore mammals hedgehog is rather commonly met, which is not the case with shrews. The characteristic environment of cracks and crevices of sandstones makes an ideal habitat for a number of bats.
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Keep exploring
Read on to discover unusual rock formations in the Stołowe Mountains National Park.
