Bratislavský lesný park or Bratislava Forest Park is a

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

park (actually a forest) in Bratislava, the capital of

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

, located in the foothills of the

Little Carpathians The Little Carpathians (also: ''Lesser Carpathians'', sk, Malé Karpaty; german: Kleine Karpaten; hu, Kis-Kárpátok) are a low, about 100 km long, mountain range, part of the Carpathian Mountains. The mountains are situated in Western Slov ...

. Officially, it is part of numerous boroughs of Bratislava: Dúbravka,

Karlova Ves Karlova Ves ( hu, Károlyújfalu, german: Karlsdorf) is a borough in the city of Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. It is located in the western part of the city close to the river Danube on the slopes of the Little Carpathians mountains and i ...

, Záhorská Bystrica, Vinohrady, Old Town, New Town and Rača. The park is administered by Mestské lesy v Bratislave (Bratislava City Forests), a specialized non-profit organization ( sk, samostatne hospodáriaca príspevková organizácia hlavného mesta SR Bratislavy). It covers an area of 27.3 km² (10.54 mi²), of which 96% is covered with forests; the rest consists of meadows, water and built-up areas. The Vydrica river originates in the park's territory. With its dense network of hiking trails, roads and recreational facilities, Bratislava Forest Park includes many localities popular among visitors, such as ''Železná studienka'' (Little iron well), ''Partizánska lúka'' (Partisan meadow),

Koliba Koliba is the name of a locality in Bratislava, Slovakia, which is situated on the foothills of the Little Carpathians. It administratively belongs to the Nové Mesto borough and is part of the Bratislava Forest Park Bratislava (, also ; ...

and the

Kamzík TV Tower The Kamzík TV Tower is a tall television transmission tower in the Koliba area of Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. The tower sits above sea level on the Kamzík hill, part of the Little Carpathians, overlooking much of the city. The tower ...

. Two-thirds of visitors enter the Bratislava Forest Park through the Červený most area near

Patrónka Patrónka is an area in the western part of Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, it is also the name of a major transport junction within the area and an important bus stop. Patrónka is located at the boundary of Bratislava I Old Town and Bratis ...

, a major transport junction in the city. The park is served by the Železná studienka Bratislava train station, the public city transport and parking is provided for up to 150 vehicles.

History

The area of the Bratislava Forest Park has been inhabited since the paleolithic age by hunter-gatherers.http://www.ba-lesy.sk/VismoOnline_ActionScripts/File.aspx?id_org=451035&id_dokumenty=1045

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...

age brought the transition to farming marking the beginning of human transformation of the local environment.

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostl ...

brought the usage of

iron Iron () is a chemical element with Symbol (chemistry), symbol Fe (from la, Wikt:ferrum, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 element, group 8 of the periodic table. It is, Abundanc ...

and numerous

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to confli ...

movements, often conducting warfare in the areas they were moving into. Notable ethnic groups from this time include the

Celts The Celts (, see pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples () are. "CELTS location: Greater Europe time period: Second millennium B.C.E. to present ancestry: Celtic a collection of Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancien ...

and the Quadi, the latter had to divide their power with the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediter ...

, whose northern border was the

Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , p ...

river, just south of the area of today's Bratislava Forest Park. The

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

exploited the natural resources across their border, hunting larger animals and cutting down the

primeval forest An old-growth forestalso termed primary forest, virgin forest, late seral forest, primeval forest, or first-growth forestis a forest that has attained great age without significant disturbance, and thereby exhibits unique ecological featur ...

, transporting the wood on the Danube downstream to their military camps and provinces. The Romans also introduced

viticulture Viticulture (from the Latin word for '' vine'') or winegrowing (wine growing) is the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. It is a branch of the science of horticulture. While the native territory of '' Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine, ...

into the region that would be famous for its

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...

s later, in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

Division

* Sitina * Partizánska lúka * Železná studienka * Kamzík

Description

Flora

The park flora belongs to the

Western Carpathians The Western Carpathians are a mountain range and geomorphological province that forms the western part of the Carpathian Mountains. The mountain belt stretches from the Low Beskids range of the Eastern Carpathians along the border of Poland wit ...

flora (Carpaticum occidentale) and into its part Praecarpaticum slovacum. The area is densely forested, original trees are

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

and beech. Other plants include

field maple ''Acer campestre'', known as the field maple, is a flowering plant species in the family Sapindaceae. It is native to much of continental Europe, Britain, southwest Asia from Turkey to the Caucasus, and north Africa in the Atlas Mountains. It has ...

, and

elderberry ''Sambucus'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Adoxaceae. The various species are commonly called elder or elderberry. The genus was formerly placed in the honeysuckle family, Caprifoliaceae, but was reclassified as Adoxaceae due to ge ...

Fauna

Animals within the park boundaries belong to the

Palearctic realm The Palearctic or Palaearctic is the largest of the eight biogeographic realms of the Earth. It stretches across all of Eurasia north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. The realm consists of several bioregions: the Euro-Sib ...

. Notable

arthropod Arthropods (, (gen. ποδός)) are invertebrate animals with an exoskeleton, a segmented body, and paired jointed appendages. Arthropods form the phylum Arthropoda. They are distinguished by their jointed limbs and cuticle made of chiti ...

s include

Lucanus cervus ''Lucanus cervus'', known as the European stag beetle, or the greater stag beetle, is one of the best-known species of stag beetle (family Lucanidae) in Western Europe, and is the eponymous example of the genus. ''L. cervus'' is listed as Near T ...

, Carabus variolosus, rarely also Rosalia alpina,

Cerambyx cerdo ''Cerambyx cerdo'', commonly known as the great capricorn beetle or cerambyx longicorn, is a species of beetle in family Cerambycidae. It occurs in North Africa (Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia), Europe (Austria, Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Cze ...

and Osmoderma eremita.

Dragonflies A dragonfly is a flying insect belonging to the infraorder Anisoptera below the order Odonata. About 3,000 extant species of true dragonfly are known. Most are tropical, with fewer species in temperate regions. Loss of wetland habitat threa ...

(Odonata) are abundant, notable species include Cordulegaster heros, one of the biggest dragonflies in Slovakia. Its larvae live in the river Vydrica sediments. Notable

crustaceans Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean gro ...

(Crustacea) include the rare

Austropotamobius torrentium ''Austropotamobius torrentium'', also called the stone crayfish, is a European species of fresh water, freshwater crayfish in the family Astacidae. It is mostly found in tributaries of the Danube, having originated in the northern part of the Bal ...

, also living in the Vydrica. There is insufficient data on

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of ...

species but they appear to be rather insignificant, bigger species have been artificially introduced for human fishing. Amphibians and reptiles include Salamandra salamandra, Rana temporaria,

Bufo bufo The common toad, European toad, or in Anglophone parts of Europe, simply the toad (''Bufo bufo'', from Latin ''bufo'' "toad"), is a frog found throughout most of Europe (with the exception of Ireland, Iceland, and some Mediterranean islands), in ...

and Rana esculenta, rarely also other species such as

Hyla arborea The European tree frog (''Hyla arborea'') is a small tree frog. As traditionally defined, it was found throughout much of Europe, Asia and northern Africa,Frost, Darrel R. ''Amphibian Species of the World''. Allen Press, Inc., 1985, p. 126. but b ...

, Rana dalmatina, etc. Reptiles include the numerous Anguis fragilis and the much rarer

Lacerta agilis The sand lizard (''Lacerta agilis'') is a Lacertidae, lacertid lizard distributed across most of Europe from France and across the continent to Lake Baikal in Russia. It does not occur in European Turkey. Its distribution is often patchy. In the ...

Lacerta viridis The European green lizard (''Lacerta viridis'') is a large lizard distributed across European midlatitudes from Slovenia and eastern Austria to as far east as the Black Sea coasts of Ukraine and Turkey. It is often seen sunning on rocks or lawns, ...

Elaphe longissima The Aesculapian snake (now ''Zamenis longissimus'', previously ''Elaphe longissima''), is a species of nonvenomous snake native to Europe, a member of the Colubrinae subfamily of the family Colubridae. Growing up to in length, it is among th ...

, and extremely rarely also

Coronella austriaca The smooth snake (''Coronella austriaca'')Street D (1979). ''The Reptiles of Northern and Central Europe''. London: B.T. Batsford Ltd. 268 pp. . is a species of non-venomous snake in the family Colubridae. The species is found in northern and ce ...

and

Natrix natrix The grass snake (''Natrix natrix''), sometimes called the ringed snake or water snake, is a Eurasian non-venomous colubrid snake. It is often found near water and feeds almost exclusively on amphibians. Subspecies Many subspecies are recogni ...

. There have been over 50 bird species recognized within the park, including Falco cherrug,

Pernis apivorus The European honey buzzard (''Pernis apivorus''), also known as the pern or common pern, is a bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. Etymology Despite its English name, this species is more closely related to kites of the genera ''Leptodon'' an ...

and Strix aluco. There are 14 identified bat species, the order

insectivora The order Insectivora (from Latin ''insectum'' "insect" and ''vorare'' "to eat") is a now-abandoned biological grouping within the class of mammals. Some species have now been moved out, leaving the remaining ones in the order Eulipotyphla, wi ...

includes

Sorex araneus The common shrew (''Sorex araneus''), also known as the Eurasian shrew, is the most common shrew, and one of the most common mammals, throughout Northern Europe, including Great Britain, but excluding Ireland. It is long and weighs , and has ve ...

, Talpa europaea and

Erinaceus europaeus The European hedgehog (''Erinaceus europaeus''), also known as the West European hedgehog or common hedgehog, is a hedgehog species native to Europe from Iberia and Italy northwards into Scandinavia and westwards into the British Isles.Harris, S. ...

. Rodents include Clethrionomys glareolus,

Apodemus sylvaticus The wood mouse (''Apodemus sylvaticus'') is a murid rodent native to Europe and northwestern Africa. It is closely related to the yellow-necked mouse (''Apodemus flavicollis'') but differs in that it has no band of yellow fur around the neck, h ...

Sciurus vulgaris The red squirrel (''Sciurus vulgaris'') is a species of tree squirrel in the genus ''Sciurus'' common throughout Europe and Asia. The red squirrel is an arboreal, primarily herbivorous rodent. In Great Britain, Ireland, and in Italy numbers ...

and

Glis glis The European edible dormouse or European fat dormouse (''Glis glis'') is a large dormouse and one of only two living species in the genus ''Glis'', found in most of Europe and parts of western Asia. Its name comes from the Romans, who ate them as ...

. Larger animals include the numerous

Capreolus capreolus The roe deer (''Capreolus capreolus''), also known as the roe, western roe deer, or European roe, is a species of deer. The male of the species is sometimes referred to as a roebuck. The roe is a small deer, reddish and grey-brown, and well-adapt ...

, Sus scrofa,

Vulpes vulpes The red fox (''Vulpes vulpes'') is the largest of the true foxes and one of the most widely distributed members of the order Carnivora, being present across the entire Northern Hemisphere including most of North America, Europe and Asia, plus ...

Martes martes The European pine marten (''Martes martes''), also known as the pine marten, is a mustelid native to and widespread in most of Europe, Asia Minor, the Caucasus and parts of Iran, Iraq and Syria. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. ...

Martes foina The beech marten (''Martes foina''), also known as the stone marten, house marten or white breasted marten, is a species of marten native to much of Europe and Central Asia, though it has established a feral population in North America. It is li ...

Mustela nivalis The least weasel (''Mustela nivalis''), little weasel, common weasel, or simply weasel is the smallest member of the genus '' Mustela,'' family Mustelidae and order Carnivora. It is native to Eurasia, North America and North Africa, and has been ...

and the rare

Ovis aries Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticated ...

Dama dama The European fallow deer (''Dama dama''), also known as the common fallow deer or simply fallow deer, is a species of ruminant mammal belonging to the family Cervidae. It is historically native to Turkey and possibly the Italian Peninsula, Bal ...

Cervus elaphus The red deer (''Cervus elaphus'') is one of the largest deer species. A male red deer is called a stag or hart, and a female is called a hind. The red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Anatolia, Iran, and parts of wes ...

Meles meles The European badger (''Meles meles''), also known as the Eurasian badger, is a badger species in the family Mustelidae native to almost all of Europe. It is classified as least concern on the IUCN Red List as it has a wide range and a large sta ...

Lepus europaeus The European hare (''Lepus europaeus''), also known as the brown hare, is a species of hare native to Europe and parts of Asia. It is among the largest hare species and is adapted to temperate, open country. Hares are herbivorous and feed mainl ...

and

Lutra lutra The Eurasian otter (''Lutra lutra''), also known as the European otter, Eurasian river otter, common otter, and Old World otter, is a semiaquatic mammal native to Eurasia. The most widely distributed member of the otter subfamily (Lutrinae) of ...

(probably only a few individuals). There are no wolves or bears in the park.

Hunting

The whole area of the Bratislava Forest Park is an official, active hunting ground. There are seven crops fields for wild animals, three

Red deer The red deer (''Cervus elaphus'') is one of the largest deer species. A male red deer is called a stag or hart, and a female is called a hind. The red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Anatolia, Iran, and parts of we ...

feeders, 25

Roe deer The roe deer (''Capreolus capreolus''), also known as the roe, western roe deer, or European roe, is a species of deer. The male of the species is sometimes referred to as a roebuck. The roe is a small deer, reddish and grey-brown, and well-adapt ...

feeders and 16 hunter's watch towers. There is no hunter's lodge in the park. Hunting is managed by the Bratislava City Forests ( sk, Mestské lesy v Bratislave) using their own hunters and eight

hunting dog A hunting dog is a canine that hunts with or for hunters. There are several different types of hunting dog developed for various tasks and purposes. The major categories of hunting dog include hounds, terriers, dachshunds, cur type dogs, and g ...

s. The company also sells hunting tickets. Fishing is managed by the Bratislava subsidiary of the Slovak fisher's union in Žilina ( sk, Slovenský rybársky zväz v Žiline, mestská organizácia v Bratislave).

Tourism

Bratislava Forest Park is accessible by public transport. ''Železná studienka'' itself can be reached in five minutes by bus No. 43, starting from

(a major transport junction in Bratislava). Automobile access to the park is limited. The last research of the visitors to the Bratislava Forest Park was conducted during June and July 2012 as part of the Urbannatur project, which is part of the Cross-border Cooperation Program Slovakia - Austria 2007-2013, financed by the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

and the state budget of the Slovak Republic. The research concluded that the most important entrance point into the park is Červený most with 62% total visitors, other entrance points in descending order of use are

and Pekná cesta – Horáreň Krasňany. Cyclists represent 13% of all visitors, most of them - 37% access the park from Potočná Street in Rača. While dogs are allowed entry into the park, visitors are prohibited from letting them off the leash. According to VZN 6/2003 §2, letter C, the Bratislava Forest Park is a public area ( sk, verejné priestranstvo).

References

External links

Bratislava Forest Park map with instructions (in Slovak and English)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bratislavsky lesny park Geography of Bratislava Parks in Bratislava Forests of Slovakia