Muńcoł Nature Reserve

The Muńcoł nature reserve lies in Soblówka, in the municipality of Ujsoły, on the eastern slopes of Muńcuł and Kotarz in the Żywiec Beskids. It protects the largest site of the snowdrop in Żywiec County and lies within the Żywiec Landscape Park.

What the Muńcoł reserve is

It is a floristic reserve with an area of 45.20 ha, established in 1998. It covers slopes at an altitude of 925 to 1,120 m above sea level. The aim of protection is a patch of fertile Carpathian beech wood with hollow-root fumewort, regarded as a rare community on a national scale.

How the forest floor changes through the year

In early spring, on the summit parts of Muńcoł at the turn of April and May, the forest floor is white with flowering snowdrops. The site numbers several thousand individuals. At the end of May the forest floor turns pink with hollow-root fumewort and bulbous coralroot, and in summer it is green with wood stitchwort, sweet woodruff and touch-me-not balsam.

Other protected plants also grow here, among them mezereon, white false hellebore and asarabacca. In summer you can meet the martagon lily, whose largest clusters number up to 30 specimens.

Practical information

• Access: it is easy, marked with information boards and lies by a hiking trail along which an educational path has been laid out.
• Check the rules of visiting on the boards at the entrance.
• In the area, as the crow flies, lie the PTTK shepherd's hut on Rycerzowa (about 3.5 km) and the PTTK mountain hut on Przegibek (about 5.4 km).