AKLAIS MIRE NATURE RESERVE

LATVIA

(Daudzese Municipality, Jaunjelgava District) (Taurkalne Plain, central)

Lat: 56o34’00’’N 24o54’00’’E (S), 2003 ha, 63 m ()

Protected/registered status
Best Time for visit; summer ()

Birding Site Guide

The reserve is 65 km SE of the capital Riga and consists of 73% forest, 25% (502 ha) mires and 1.3% lakes. The main Znotinu Lake is located between the 2 raised mires and there are 11 other smaller lakes.

Species: Birds

Black-throated Diver, Black Grouse, Wood Grouse, Osprey, White-tailed Eagle, Common Crane, European Golden Plover, Tengmalm’s Owl, Ural Owl, Three-toed Woodpecker, Black Woodpecker.

Mammals

All told 29 species including: Lynx, Wolf, Pine Marten, European Brown Bear, Mountain Hare, European Beaver, Wild Boar, Roe Deer, Elk, Northern Bat Eptesicus nilssonii, Nathusius’ Pipistrelle Pipistrellus nathusii.

Invertebrates

Rarer ones are Large White-faced Darter Leucorrhina pectoralis, Large Copper Lycaena dispar, Fen Raft Spider Dolomedes plantarius, Red Flat Bark Beetle Cucujus haematodes and Slender Blue-winged Grasshopper Sphingonatus caerulans.

Plants

Stunted pines, Black Alder, Downy Birch, Rannoch Rush, Cranberry, Round-leaved Sundew, Heather, Bog Bilberry, Cloudberry, Hare’s-tail Cottongrass, Labrador -tea, Many sphagnum mosses and Marsh Cinquefoil, Narrow Small Reed, Slender Sedge, Bogbean, Creeping Bent, Purple Moor Grass. Less common are Bog Arum Calla palustris, Tall Bog Sedge Carex paupercula, Early Marsh Orchid Dactylorhiza incarnata, Spotted Orchid D. maculata, Bog-Orchid Hammarbya paludosa, Single-leaved Bog-Orchid Malaxis monophyllos Slender Tufted Sedge Carex acuta and Milk Parsley Peucedanum palustre. Whortleberry Willow Salix myrtilloides. Also some epiphytes in the ancient Fennoscandian hemi boreal deciduous woodland. Rare moss discovered in this woodland is Luminous Moss Schistostega pennata.

Author: BSG

References: Latvia nature reserves

www.birdingsiteguide.com