Dike between Słoneczny Górny and Wilczy Mały ponds (Stawno)

This public, surfaced footpath and cycle dike (part of the Stawno – Nowe Grodzisko dike, approx. 1.9 km) runs between Słoneczny Górny Pond (also known as Rudzki Pond) and Wilczy Mały Pond, in the heart of the Stawno complex – the largest in the “Stawy Milickie” (Milicz Ponds) nature reserve (over 1,600 ha). Along it you'll find shelters, benches, bike racks, information boards and birdwatching spots; the dike carries the green hiking trail and the Sławoszowice – Ruda Milicka – Godnowa educational trail (stop 9 “Słoneczny Górny Pond” and stop 10 “Channel between the ponds”).

Słoneczny Górny covers 164 ha and has 12 reed islands; it was created in 1913 on the site of an earlier pond drained in 1848. It is one of Stawno's four “breeding ponds” – it is neither deepened nor cleared of reeds. Nesting birds include greylag geese (40–50 pairs), coots, mallards, pochards, grebes, marsh harriers (5–7 pairs) and bitterns (3–5 pairs), with great reed warblers, bearded reedlings and penduline tits in the reeds. Wilczy Mały (34 ha) is a fry-rearing pond; in 2021 a site of the protected water caltrop was discovered here. Cormorants rest at the culvert between the ponds, white-tailed eagles and harriers are frequent visitors, and in winter the water here freezes late, so waterbirds gather.

Through the year: March – greylag geese and the trumpeting of cranes; April – blue male moor frogs; May–June – the breeding season; August – waders; September–November – geese on migration (tens of thousands in the valley), crane roosts, and white-tailed eagles at the carp harvests; winter – otters. Red deer, roe deer and wild boar live in the surrounding forests.

Getting there: free car park on the Milicz – Ruda Milicka road (approx. 2 km to the dike), or along the paved road from Ruda Milicka to the hamlet of Stawno. Ruda Milicka is home to the Ornithological Station of the University of Wrocław, and its houses are decorated with wooden birds (“Ptasia Kraina” – “Bird Land”). The ponds are managed by Stawy Milickie SA; during the fish harvests (September–December) some trails may be temporarily closed.

Reserve rules: marked trails only; keep off closed dikes, out of the water and out of the reeds; dogs, drones, swimming, camping and campfires are not allowed. Please keep quiet.