Not every valuable habitat is tied to water. In Ecopark Vaya the dry gully that runs down to the triangular pond long looked like an unimportant place – dry ground overgrown with scrub. Yet it was there that nature showed how valuable even ‘unattractive’ land can be.
The gully was left to develop naturally and gradually turned into a dense blackberry thicket. Blackberries are one of the most useful plants for wildlife – their fruit feeds birds and small mammals in late summer, their thorny thickets are a safe refuge from predators, and their flowers attract bees and other insects.
The pheasants were the first to take advantage. Today they are permanent residents of the gully – feeding on the fruit and seeds, sheltering in the brambles and raising their young in peace. Alongside them, many songbirds find a home in the thickets.
At the lower end of the gully, by the triangular pond, the picture changes completely. The water there is calm and rich in fish, and the banks are undisturbed. The pond has become one of the pelicans’ favourite places in the ecopark – here they live, rest and feed, often in large groups, without being disturbed by people.
Creating this habitat was above all a decision not to interfere – to leave the gully uncleared, the brambles unrooted and the pond undisturbed. In 2024 the ecopark designated the area as a habitat and restricted access to it, to preserve the peace of its inhabitants.
The activity was carried out with our own funds and labour, as part of Ecopark Vaya’s understanding that a diversity of habitats – dry and wet, open and dense – is the foundation of a diversity of species.
From the dry bramble thicket to the water with the pelicans is only a few dozen metres. Within them fits the whole idea of the ecopark: different places for different inhabitants, connected into one whole.
Project summary
Project: The ‘Dry Gully and Triangular Pond’ habitat
Year: 2024
Location: Ecopark Vaya
Activity: preserving the bramble thicket in the gully as a habitat for pheasants and songbirds, protecting the peace of the triangular pond as a place for the pelicans
Funding: own funds and volunteer work
Status: completed
Photo: Oliver Sjoberg / Unsplash