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WONDERS OF NATURE
Astrakhan reserve. Nature miracle
The Astrakhan Nature Reserve covers an area of 72,5 thousand hectares in the Caspian lowland, which lies 27 m below sea level (the process of lowering the lowland is still ongoing). It is located 120 km from Astrakhan, in the Volga delta, so there is water in the reserve; islands overgrown with reeds, cattails, willows, lotus and chillim, although it is located in the semi-desert zone. The landscape of the Volga delta is complemented by boundless sea bays - kultuks, impenetrable thickets of reeds.
Once, a long time ago, in the territory allotted for the reserve, clouds of birds covered the sky, the water teemed with fish, herds of wild boars burst along the reed supports. But natural wealth declined rather quickly. Local residents harvested bird eggs, used them to make noodles, and sold them to soap factories. The feathers of egrets, terns, grebes and other birds were also in great demand. The snow-white long feathers of white herons were especially highly valued: the skins of three to five large birds were equal in value to a cow. Everyone who had a gun hunted wild boars and other game, caught fish in barbaric ways. At the beginning of 1919, agronomist N. N. Podyapolsky arrived in Moscow from the front-line Astrakhan. On January 16, he was received by V. I. Lenin. The agronomist began a seemingly untimely conversation about the creation of a nature reserve in the Volga Delta. But Podyapolsky's proposal was met with understanding. And already on April 11 of the same year, the Astrakhan State Reserve was established. It was created at the confluence of the Caspian and the Volga. Its area at that time was about 23 thousand hectares. The staff of the reserve was given the task of preserving and increasing the population of the local fauna, which was under the threat of complete extermination, primarily white herons. From the first days of the existence of the reserve, scientific work has been carried out here. The relief of the Astrakhan Reserve is almost flat, cut by numerous wide and narrow, shallow and deep erik channels (the Volga carries its waters to the Caspian Sea through more than 800 channels) Here, in the Volga delta, there are numerous islands covered with willow forests and reeds, there are thickets lotus and chilim. The flora of the reserve is represented by more than 290 species of plants belonging to 65 families (this is relatively small). However, among them there are relict and endemic forms. Such as four-leaf marsilea, water fern (salvinia floating), water chestnut (chilim), nut-bearing lotus. And the reed growing here is a kind of regulator of the natural processes of the Volga delta, the main background of its vegetation. It is quite easy to get lost in the reed supports. The reed here is very powerful - two or three times higher than a person, the thickness of its stems reaches 5 cm. Sometimes a willow entwined with prickly blackberries and bindweed adjoins the reeds. The entire water surface of the protected area is covered with plants. Floating multi-colored rosettes of chilim leaves, or water chestnuts, stand out especially. It has a hard shell with a white nucleolus inside. They like to feast on wild boars, gray geese, water rats. The Caspian is the northernmost point where the lotus is found. There is an assumption that it was once brought to the Volga Delta by Kalmyk Buddhists, who considered this flower sacred. Nevertheless, in the East, the fruits, roots, leaves of the lotus are used for food. For many years, the lotus played "hide and seek" with people: it suddenly blossomed in one of the channels of the Volga, then it disappeared, then again huge bluish-green leaves appeared in another place. Now the lotus covers an area of more than 2,5 thousand hectares. Pink lotus blooms in July-August for only three days with huge pink or purple flowers with amber-yellow stamens (flower diameter - up to a quarter of a meter). The flowers look great on one and a half meter stems, against the background of large green leaves (they are no smaller than a children's umbrella, their diameter reaches 80 cm). On the first day of blooming, the corolla of the lotus is bright red. The next day it becomes light pink. And before withering, it acquires a creamy, slightly yellowish tone. When the corolla petals fall off, a dull purple seed pod is left on a tall stem. Where this miracle of nature grows, even the reeds recede. The reserve is interesting not only for rare plant species, but also for the extreme intensity of the processes of flora evolution. There are more than 260 species of birds in the Volga Delta, 106 of which nest here, and the rest are during the period of migration, migration, wintering, molting. 21 species of birds living in the reserve are listed in the Red Book. Most birds (herons, loaves, cormorants) nest in trees. On a willow branch hanging over the water, you can see how a fluffy ball sways, from a distance it looks like a hornet's nest. This nest was made of vegetable fibers and fastened with down of faded willow and poplar. There are a lot of herons of different colors in the reserve: white (large and small), red, yellow and even night herons - grayish-bluish. During the mating season, feathers lengthen on their backs and hang down the sides of the tail, resulting in an openwork, lacy mantle (such feathers are called aigrettes). In former times, aigrettes were used to decorate ladies' hats, for the sake of which, in fact, herons were destroyed. In the book "Reserved Paths" you can read: "Egrets and gray herons are circling in the air. There are no herbaceous plants on the ground, it is white from bird droppings, as if watered with lime. Only along the edges of the island does nightshade turn green with red (ripe) berries. Tree trunks also white. There are several nests on each willow. The upper tier is occupied by large birds: gray and great egrets, cormorants. There is more sun and air above. Cormorants settle closer to the edge of the island. " The Volga Delta is also of international importance as a waterfowl reserve. Gray geese, mute swans, mallards, shovelers, pintails, divers, teals, etc. live here. Here you can meet brilliant black birds - coots with a white bald spot on their foreheads. During the molting season, geese and ducks shed so many feathers that the birds lose their ability to fly. Then they climb into the thickets and wait until their feathers grow. Rare species of birds nest in the reserve: curly and pink pelicans, loaf, pheasant, etc. Many of them, until recently very rare, have become common inhabitants not only of the Astrakhan reserve, but of the entire Volga delta. Pelican chicks are born completely helpless, naked and blind. Only after 20 days they are covered with down, and only at the age of three months they can fly and forage on their own. Therefore, sometimes, at high water levels, animals have to be fed. Kolpik, or spoonbill, a rather curious bird, is also among the rare ones. She is creamy white. The beak of the bell is widened at the end in the form of a shovel. When this bird is hunting, it walks in shallow water and shakes its head from side to side, as if mowing. Whiskers live in reeds - unusually graceful and beautiful birds of pale blue color with ocher-cream tan marks. The bird got its name due to the fact that the males have black stripes going down from the base of the beak, as if a mustache hangs down. At the same time, they have a very short and blunt beak. I. Konstantinov writes: "If you go down on a punt-kulas along countless channels into endless bays, you find yourself in the kingdom of birds. They are everywhere - on the water, on trees, on shallows, in the sky, on the shore. White, black, gray, golden, red. For them, only a full palette is enough if you start drawing birds from the Astrakhan Reserve. Hundreds of thousands of them nest here, and during the spring and autumn migrations there are many times more. Birds have long recognized the reserve as their "comfortable hotel". The Volga Delta has been declared a specially protected international bird reserve. An ornithological station operates at the reserve, which studies the number, distribution and migration of birds. Individuals ringed here were later found in Greenland, Western Europe, Africa, India and other parts of the globe. The ichthyofauna is richly represented in the reserve - about 50 species of fish, many of which are commercial. The pride of the reserve is the Volga sturgeons (beluga, sturgeon, stellate sturgeon). There are herring (Caspian shad, Volga herring, black-backed), carp (vobla, bream, carp, rudd, asp, sabrefish, golden carp). There are also pike, zander, perch, gobies, needlefish, stickleback, etc. In spring, the water begins to seethe and make noise from spawning fish. The fauna of the reserve is relatively poor. Wild boars, foxes, wolves, raccoon dogs, badgers, otters, water rats, and mouse-like rodents live here. River beaver and muskrat acclimatized. Of the reptiles, there are snakes, lizards, patterned snakes, Caspian turtles, etc. A lot of lake frogs live in the reeds. A myriad of insects - 1250 species. These are dragonflies, crickets, caddisflies, cicadas, beetles. Blood-sucking insects are especially annoying: there are millions of mosquitoes here! A lot of scientific work is being done in the reserve. In a natural open-air laboratory, botanists, ornithologists, zoologists, parasitologists, geomorphologists, microbiologists, geneticists, ichthyologists conduct numerous comprehensive studies. The main subject of their interest is the ecosystem of the lower reaches of the Volga delta in the conditions of the falling level of the Caspian Sea, as well as the processes of delta formation. And tourists come here to relax on kayaks. Especially a lot of them happens during the flowering of the lotus. Author: Yudina N.A.
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