White Carpathians - Protected Areas
CESTISKA
This small-scale protected area was designated to help protect thermophilous (warmth-loving) vegetation on a former pasture close to the village of Brezova.
The site is a small remnant of a once extensive pasture directly above the village, on the slopes of the Studeny vrch (= Cold Hill). It is the part through which cattle used to be driven to the pasture and back to the village again, leaving characteristic marks on the site – the web of old cattle paths is still recognizable on the site today. They probably gave the site its name, too – in the local dialect “Cestiska” = Paths.
The marks left on the terrain by cattle grazing are not the only ones – landslips and occasional stone mining have left their traces as well. The various forms of land disturbance resulted in a range of specific habitats, which contribute to the diversity of species here: plants (e.g. the Fragrant Orchid Gymnadenia conopsea, Cross Gentian Gentiana cruciata, Purple Milk-vetch Astragalus danicus), spiders, beetles, butterflies (e.g. the Scarce Swallowtail Iphiclides podalirius), and the rare (and harmless) smooth snake Coronella austriaca, which is, unfortunately, often mistaken for the poisonous common wiper.
- Type of protected area under national legislation: Nature Monument
- Managed by: the state, through Bile Karpaty (White Carpathians) Protected Landscape Area Administration
- Practical site management: state financed, conducted by local farmers (sub-contracted)
Contact
Vzdělávací a informační středisko Bílé Karpaty, o.p.s.
Marie Petrů
Bartolomějské náměstí 47, 698 01 Veselí nad Moravou
Tel.:518 322 545
e-mail:visbk@bilekarpaty.cz
http://bilekarpaty.cz/vis
