Kinburn Spit Regional Landscape Park

Kinburn Needle

The Kinburn Needle is in the western part of the peninsula, opposite Ochakiv. At its narrowest point, you can stand with one foot in the sea and the other in the estuary. This important link in the coastal ecological corridor is a massive nesting ground for birds during their migrations. The site supports many rare species that are protected by law, including the common eider, the Eurasian curlew, the whimbrel and the Eurasian oystercatcher. A diverse colony of seagulls lives at Kinburn Point, the nesting ground sometimes having over 1,000 birds. 

The Needle also has massive clusters of pygmy irises whose colorful blooms mad the area extremely picturesque in springtime.

Sand dunes

Sandy dunes have accumulated at the mouth of the Dnipro since the last Ice Age and continue to accumulate even today, as the wind carries sand considerable distances from the coast inland. The strong winds that prevail on the Spit are capable of building up the dunes almost half a meter overnight, sifting sand over everything in sight. The line of dunes marching along the coastline is slowly expanding and the only thing that effectively stops the advance of the sand is vegetation.

Kachyne Ravine or Vovche Ligvo

Vovche Ligvo or Wolf's Lair in the broadest sense is a breeding place for wolves. Typically, it is a permanent spot in a secluded forest area near water that is rarely visited by people. The food in the vicinity must be sufficient to supply the needs of the mother of the brood. When feeding wolf pups, the adults sometimes use a number of inaccessible places, moving the pups from one to another. Such protective conditions are exactly what the Kachyne or Duck Ravine provides, located as it is among the sand mounds, surrounded by old pine stands. 

The first-growth forest in Kachyne Ravine is extremely important for maintaining the population of white-tailed eagle, also known as the sea eagle. During cold winters, a few hundred of these predatory birds can fly in to rest. They find their food on the coast, in places that rarely freeze over. When the weather is particularly bad, numerous other birds find shelter here, such as mute swans, mallards, and greater scaups. In the spring of every year, one pair of eagles always stays behind to raise its offspring. This bird belongs to a globally vulnerable species that requires global protection.

Alder grove

Near Kovalivka, on the northwest outskirts of Pokrovka, is an alder grove of about 10 hectares that grew on the old bed of the Dnipro River. 

This alder grove is a mezotrophic wetland dominated by sedge. These island forests are of particular importance for biodiversity, unlike planted groves. The alder grove near Kovalivka is one of the largest in the Lower Dnipro region, second in size only to the Volyzhyn forest. Oddly, this cluster of alders is separated from its main natural habitats by hundreds of kilometers. 

The Osetynske Gully 

During the 1960-80s, this ravine was one of the most productive fishing spots in Kinburn, specialized in fishing sturgeon and its caviar, including Russian sturgeon, starry sturgeon or common sevruga, and beluga, the largest fish in the Black Sea, weighing up to a tonne. Today, sturgeons are threatened with extinction and are listed in Ukraine’s Red Book, the IUCN list, the Berne and Bonn Conventions, CITES, and the European Red List. 

Recently, the fishing area was replaced by the new boundaries of the Kinburn Spit Regional Landscape Park. It has now covered access to sand and shell deposits that have been growing rapidly towards the sea in the direction of Dovhiy (Long) Island. This narrow strip of land along with the surrounding Black Sea and Yahorlyk Bay is a place where birds gather, including the common eider and the great white pelican. Here, you can sometimes see the oystercatcher, pied avocet, Kentish plover and little tern nesting—all of whom are under state protection. 

The Osetynske Gully is a good place to cross to the Tendrivska Spit, which is separated from the Kinburn coast by 15 kilometers. From here, it is clearly visible on a sunny day.

Volyzhyn Forest

Volyzhyn Forest is the largest natural forest in the Lower Dnipro region. Together with a lake and virgin steppe, it covers 203 hectares and belongs to the Black Sea Biosphere Reserve. The Giant Oak, which has miraculously survived on the coast of estuary, is probably the oldest tree in Mykolayiv Oblast. 

An unusual feature of the Kinburn Spit area is the small groves of oak and birch, aspen, and alder scattered on the lower reaches of the sandy expanses of the peninsula. These are what’s left of the famous Hilaeus, a land of forests that ran the length of the Lower Dnipro in the 5th century BC according to the ancient Greek historian Herodotus. 

The antiquity and originality of forest vegetation on Kinburn can be seen in the high number of forest plants: lily-of-the-valley, fragrant Solomon’s seal, blackberry, forest linden, alpine squill, viola suavis or Russian violet, meadow anthriscus, and adder’s tongue. Among local tree and shrub species is a large number of common local types, including the Dnipro birch. This has created the right conditions for a large variety of capped mushrooms to flourish, including porcini, boletus, leccinum, and late and grainy suillus, this last not typical for dry Black Sea steppe. 

Unlike planted forests, these woods are exceptionally important for the biodiversity and conservation of the area. For instance, a record number of amphibian and reptile species from the steppe zone of Ukraine live here, among them the coronella austriaca, the steppe viper, the blotched snake, and the Caspian whipsnake, which are all listed in Ukraine’s Red Book and the protected lists of the Berne Convention.