A peat bog nature reserve from 2006 between Piaseczna and Stary Węgliniec, with one of the few sites in Central Europe of cross-leaved heath.
The Wrzosiec near Piaseczna Nature Reserve is a peat bog reserve in Węgliniec municipality, in Zgorzelec County, established in 2006 to protect one of the few sites in Central Europe of cross-leaved heath (Erica tetralix).
The protected area was created to preserve unique peat bogs of an Atlantic character in the Lower Silesian Forest, with a relict stand of heath moss vegetation and species of protected, rare and endangered plants. The reserve lies within the boundaries of two Natura 2000 sites: the Uroczyska Borów Dolnośląskich habitat refuge and the Bory Dolnośląskie bird refuge. The land belongs to the State Treasury and is managed by the Węgliniec Forest District under the supervision of the Regional Nature Conservator in Wrocław.
The reserve covers 40.16 ha of peat bog located within a forest complex, between the villages of Piaseczna and Stary Węgliniec, next to the Staw Dziczy breeding pond. On its northern side it has a small buffer zone of 10.27 ha. The surrounding forests are three types of pine forest: fresh, moist and boggy.
Ten plant communities have been recorded within the reserve, among them a heath moss community unique in the country, more typical of Europe's Atlantic coasts than of the continental interior. Cross-leaved heath grows here, a protected species occupying one of the few sites in Central Europe. The peat bog is also covered by a moss community with white beak-sedge (Rhynchospora alba) and a reed bed, which has significantly expanded its range since the end of the 20th century. The list of vascular flora includes 178 species from 44 families, including two rare clubmosses, marsh clubmoss (Lycopodiella inundata) and stiff clubmoss (Lycopodium annotinum), and three carnivorous plant species: round-leaved sundew (Drosera rotundifolia), oblong-leaved sundew (Drosera intermedia) and intermediate bladderwort (Utricularia intermedia). Wild rosemary (Ledum palustre), bog-rosemary (Andromeda polifolia), sand sedge (Carex arenaria) and papillose bog-moss (Sphagnum papillosum) are also protected, and species growing here without protected status include marsh cinquefoil (Comarum palustre), common cranberry (Oxycoccus palustris) and bog bilberry (Vaccinium uliginosum).
The best-studied animal group is dragonflies, with 20 species recorded, including the protected yellow-spotted whiteface (Leucorrhinia pectoralis), alongside the more common brown hawker (Aeshna grandis), yellow-spotted emerald (Somatochlora flavomaculata) and spotted darter (Sympetrum depressiusculum). Common cranes nest within the reserve, and the Eurasian beaver lives in and around the Staw Dziczy pond.
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