1. The beauty of the grebe
On Wednesday, February 7, at the Central Estate of the Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve and in the cinema hall of the Municipal Education Institution “Dashkovskaya” Secondary comprehensive school, unique film screenings of the new documentary film “The Beauty of the Grebes” were held. The film is dedicated to the beautiful and little-known bird family Grebe. Its filming took place over the course of a year in the Moscow region, the Leningrad region, the Republic of Kalmykia and the Republic of Dagestan. Great professionals in their field worked on the film: member of the Guild of Non-Fiction film and television Mikhail Rodionov and member of the Union of Cinematographers of Russia Nadezhda Dorofeeva. They have authored many films about wildlife, which have repeatedly won Russian and international film festivals. The screening in the reserve gathered almost all of its employees and students of grades 5-6 were invited to the session in the cinema hall of the Municipal Educational Institution “Dashkovskaya” Secondary comprehensive school. The film made an indelible impression on all viewers, regardless of age. After the session, Mikhail Rodionov went on stage and gave exhaustive answers. The author did not answer only one question – why do grebes have red eyes? It’s just that not a single ornithologist knows the answer to it yet.
2. Winter route accounting
On Friday, February 10, the winter route track count began on the territory of the Prioksko-Terrasny State Nature Biosphere Reserve. Early in the morning, 11 groups of counters simultaneously went out into the protected forest, each of which skied a route of 10-12 kilometers. The snow cover is high this year and even on skis it is very difficult to move through the forest, but despite this, all the tracks encountered along the way were identified and carefully recorded. Several census takers were lucky enough to see moose and a fox. Based on the results of the survey, the results obtained will be published on the reserve’s website and will then be included in the next volume of the “Сhronicle of nature”.
3. “The bison on a motorcycle”
A team of athletes from Serpukhov went from the Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve straight to the ice of the “Zhigulevskoye Sea”. Our fellow countrymen: pilot Alexander, mechanic Yurii and manager Anton – members of the sports “2K Serpukhov” decided to take part in the festival “Zhigulevskaya milya 2024”. According to the regulations for this year’s races, each team must represent one of 17 specially protected animals. Being residents of the urban district of Serpukhov, the team “2K Serpukhov” naturally chose the Bison. The Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve supported the initiative, so that as many people as possible in our country would learn about the existence of the only specially protected natural area in the Moscow region and a rare animal listed in the Red Book. The “bison” symbol had to be fought for. Athletes from Belarus also wanted to put its image on their cars. However, on the side of the Serpukhovians was the first Central Bison Nursery in Russia, which has been restoring the bison population for 75 years and has become the main attraction of Serpukhov. The festival “Zhigulevskaya milya 2024” is held with the partnership support of the Russian Nature Reserve Center, the Russian Geographical Society and many others. The start of the races on the embankment of the city of Tolyatti is scheduled for February 7, and although the team has a long way to go, it was decided to start it with a visit to the Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve and a visit to the ecological trail “Road to the Bison”.
4. About winter track route accounting at the Exhibition of National Economy Movements
Last weekend, in order to familiarize Moscow residents with the scientific work of the reserves, Vasily Eduardovich Demidov, Deputy Director for Scientific Work of the Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve, spoke at the Russia exhibition in the Prirodograd pavilion. He spoke about such an interesting event as the winter route census, explained how and why it is done and shared a couple of unusual stories that happened during the censuses. The audience did not remain indifferent, judging by the fact that immediately after the speech the reserve received an application from a volunteer to participate in the future census.
5. Everybody start!
On Saturday, February 10, the Oleg Stepanov Park hosted the sports festival “Everybody Starts!” The main idea of the event was to unite the family and develop sports among the younger generation. The Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve is always ready to support healthy and interesting sports initiatives. Especially when our long-time friend and assistant in organizing many environmental events Pavel Zhestkov – Master of Sports of the Russian Federation in cross-country skiing, coach of the Russian National Roller Skiing Team, Chairman of the Committee of the Russian Cross-Country Skiing Federation, takes part in them. On this day, all visitors to the park were treated to a meeting with a life-size “Zubr” doll and many sports activities: an obstacle race on inflatable tubes, a Nordic walking master class, a roller skiing seminar. And in addition: a photo zone, a photo exhibition and children’s animation.
6. “Direct Conversion” on Ornithologist’s Day
An important ecological holiday was celebrated on February 19 – Ornithologist Day. You can learn about science, observations of nature and the life of animals in a specially protected natural area by listening to the “Direct Conversation” with the ornithologist of the Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve Ilya Murashev on Serpukhov Public Television. Ornithologist Day is a great opportunity to draw public attention to the problems of studying and preserving birds, their species diversity. The holiday began to be celebrated in the republics of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on February 19, 1983, when the All-Union Ornithological Society was organized under the Academy of Sciences of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
7. Tourism and hospitality, new video materials
In the past 2023, the Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve became a platform for the implementation of the federal project “Development of tourism infrastructure” of the national project “Tourism and Hospitality Industry”. As part of the project, the Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve held a number of events to create a single database of photo and video materials in order to develop an Internet portal about the life of wild nature of Russia – a new interactive platform where unique content from all specially protected natural areas of our country is regularly published. Now the institution takes photos and videos using modern digital equipment purchased with targeted funds allocated within the framework of the national project. The obtained materials are also widely used in the future for scientific monitoring, protection of the territory and environmental education. Thanks to the participation of the Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve in the implementation of the national project “Tourism and Hospitality Industry” with the amazing protected nature of the southern Moscow region can remotely get acquainted with numerous residents of our country, living in its remote corners. Today we are pleased to share some footage from a camera trap taken by employees of the territory protection department. The camera, installed near the fenced area of the reserve, with rare steppe plants growing here, captured the life of forest inhabitants and the amazing ability of moose to overcome any obstacles.
