Đurđevac
Croatian Sahara
Fort Stari Grad
ABOUT SANDS
GEOGRAPHICAL BOTANICAL RESERVE
Đurđevac sands are a protected botanical area, a distinctive habitat with a large number of endemic species, unique flora and fauna, and visible forms of sand dunes. They cover about 20 hectares and part of it has been declared a special geographical and botanical reserve as an easily recognizable and unique habitat in Croatia, with the intention of preserving the peculiarities of vegetation, where only certain plant species could develop and adapt to living conditions on sand. In addition to endemic species, the remains of sand dunes are also visible.
One of the names for Đurđevac sands is “Bloody sands”
They were formed by the deposition of glacier sediments, and by the end of the 19th century there were still “living” sands here.
The first works on afforestation of sands began in 1891 on the initiative of the head of the “National-Economic Department of the Royal Provincial Government” Mirko pl. Halper Sigetski.
In addition to endemic associations of Festuca Vaginata and Corynephorus canescens, in the entomofauna we also find a peculiar set of about thirty species of butterflies that appear only on these sandy soils and with this plant association.
FLORA AND FAUNA
PLANT SPECIES PRESENT ON SANDS
Festuca Vaginata
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Festuca vaginata
Corynephorus Canescnes
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Corynephorus canescnes
Plantago Indica
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Plantago indica
Cytisus Scoparius
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Cytisus scoparius
Linaria Genistifolia
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Linaria genistifolia
Pulsatilla Nigrisans
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Pulsatilla nigrisans
