Góra Miłek Nature Reserve

The Góra Miłek Nature Reserve is a forest reserve covering almost the entire Miłek elevation above Wojcieszów Górny, in the western part of the Eastern Ridge of the Kaczawa Mountains, in the Western Sudetes. It was established by an ordinance of the Minister of Environmental Protection, Natural Resources and Forestry on 26 January 1994, and covers an area of 141.35 ha.

Purpose of protection and geological structure

The purpose of the reserve's protection is to preserve a fragment of lower montane forest on a limestone base, characteristic of the Sudetes, together with natural plant communities and a rich invertebrate fauna, including snails and spiders. The area is built of Early Palaeozoic metamorphic rocks: greenstones, greenschists, phyllites and marbles, that is, crystalline limestones, belonging to the Kaczawa metamorphic complex. On the slopes you can find rock outcrops, boulders and rock debris.

Vegetation and cyclamen

The tree stand is dominated by fertile Sudetic beech forest and Sudetic orchid beech forest, with montane riparian forest, oat-grass meadow and xerothermic grassland occurring on smaller areas. Alongside the beeches grow spruces, pines, larches, oaks, maples, sycamores, birches and rowans. In the forest floor you can find, among others, mezereon, martagon lily, snowdrop and several species of orchid, including the lady's slipper orchid and the greater butterfly orchid. The reserve is the only place in Poland where cyclamen grows, and the rare pale-flowered broomrape can also be found here.

Educational trail

In 2015 an educational trail of about 4 km was opened, running along the boundaries of the reserve and passing a disused quarry, which lies outside the protected area. The reserve has no protection plan, but protective tasks apply, indicating that the area is subject to active protection. A similar Sudetic forest reserve is the Buki Sudeckie Nature Reserve, and among the nearby elevations of the Kaczawa Mountains it is worth noting Chmielarz and Góra Połom.

Practical information

• Location: Wojcieszów, Złotoryja County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship.
• The reserve lies above Wojcieszów Górny, in the Western Sudetes, in the area of the Eastern Ridge of the Kaczawa Mountains; the exact starting point of the trail is worth checking before your trip.
• An educational trail of about 4 km, running along the boundaries of the reserve, is available for visitors.