BEKA rezerwat przyrody

Get to know the place on the Bay of Puck, where in spring and summer instead of the crowds of tourists there is peace and in the silence you can hear the birds singing. Leave your car at home, get on your bike and see one of the last places on our coast.

RESERVES - We protectThe nature reserve called Beka was created by the ordinance of the Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of November 17, 1988. It covers the low coast of the Puck Bay, located within the Seaside Landscape Park. The main goals of the protection of this area is to preserve, for scientific and didactic reasons, humid salt meadows, the so-called brackish and rare sedge hammer communities and rich breeding and migratory avifauna. The Beka reserve was included in the Natura 2000 site. It is included as a protected area according to the Birds Directive - Special Bird Protection Area (PLB 220005 Zatoka Pucka), as well as the Habitats Directive - Special Habitat Protection Area (PLH 220032 Zatoka Pucka and the Hel Peninsula).

Description of forms of use - before and after the creation of the reserve

The history of coastal meadows that are currently within the borders of the Beka reserve dates back to around 300 years. Agricultural use of the area and regular inflows of salt waters from the Puck Bay (every year in the autumn-winter season salt water pours into the meadows) were the driving force behind the emergence of rare and unique plant habitats on the Polish coast - brackish water. They provide an excellent breeding habitat for wetland birds. After the end of World War II, farming on Bece was undertaken by Przedsiębiorstwo Hodowli Roślin i Nasion (PHRiN) in Celbów. Activities carried out by PHRiN - cattle grazing, coincided with the former way of use, thanks to which the salt meadows could remain in good condition. At the end of the seventies, up to 150 cattle grazed in the current reserve. At the same time, this area was noticed and appreciated because of its natural value, so attempts were made to obtain legal protection. As a result, a reserve called "Beka" was created in the late 1980s. The introduction of reserve protection, and thus a ban on farming in Beka coincided with the liquidation of PHRiN in Celbów. Lack of agricultural use of Beki turned out to be fatal and caused the disappearance of unique habitats - brackas, for whose protection a reserve was established. It was "forgotten" that salt meadows are a semi-natural habitat, i.e. one for which proper human economy is necessary. Therefore, since 1999, the Polish Society for the Protection of Birds has been carrying out tasks of active protection, mainly grazing and mowing, which allow to eliminate cane. Thanks to our actions, large fragments of salty meadows achieved a similar appearance as during the pasture use from the 70s of the last century.