🌿 A national nature monument, one of the most valuable steppe localities in the Czech Republic.
🦋 Home to over 2900 species of rare plants, fungi, and animals, including unique steppe flora and fauna.
🌸 Discover exceptional diversity of rare steppe flora and fauna, including critically endangered Red Horned-poppy (Glaucium corniculatum), Pasqueflower (Pulsatilla grandis), Dwarf Iris (Iris pumila), and Tatar Kale (Crambe tataria).
🌳 Explore Pannonian-type oak and oak-hornbeam forest sections, as well as unique steppe grasslands.
🐞 Observe rare insects like various oil beetles (Meloe decorus, Meloe uralensis), longhorn beetles (Dorcadion pedestre, Dorcadion fulvum), jewel beetles (Sphenoptera antiqua, Anthaxia candens), and significant butterfly species such as Chamaesphecia colpiformis and Polyommatus thersites.
🦎 Keep an eye out for reptiles like the European Green Lizard (Lacerta viridis) and Smooth Snake (Coronella austriaca).
🦅 Enjoy birdwatching for species like the European Bee-eater (Merops apiaster), Red-backed Shrike (Lanius collurio), Eurasian Hoopoe (Upupa epops), and European Stonechat (Saxicola rubicola).
🌱 Visit a site recognized within the Important Plant Areas (IPA) network and a Natura 2000 European site, considered the "queen of Moravian steppes."
🚜 Learn about active conservation efforts including grazing by sheep and regular mowing of parts of the reserve.
🌲 See how oaks are planted and invasive Black Locust trees are removed to protect the ecosystem.
📜 Understand the history of the steppe, formerly terraced for fruit trees, vines, and licorice.
⚠️ Conservation also addresses nutrient runoff from surrounding fields, which has impacted rare insect species.
🗓️ The area has a long history of protection, with Pouzdřanský kopec declared a strict botanical reserve in 1946, the Kolby forest section added in 1986, and the entire area established as a National Nature Monument in 2014.
⛰️ The subsoil is composed of Paleogene claystones and sandstones of the flysch belt, unconformably covered by loess and loess loams.
🌍 Soils include typical pararendzina, cambisol, and in the Kolby part, chernozem and luvisol.
🍄 Discover unique fungi such as the grass polypore (Polyporus rhizophilus) growing on dead feather grasses.
🌳 In the forests, look for specially protected species like the Royal Bolete (Butyriboletus regius) and the Purple-red Bolete (Imperator rhodopurpureus).