Segiet Nature Reserve

The Segiet nature reserve is a partial forest reserve on the Tarnowskie Góry Ridge, on the border of Bytom and Tarnowskie Góry. It covers the summit parts of Srebrna Góra (347 m above sea level) and protects a beech forest growing on the site of former mine workings. Since 2017 it has been part of the UNESCO World Heritage site in Tarnowskie Góry.

What the reserve protects

The reserve was established by an order of the Minister of Forestry of 27 April 1953 to preserve a natural beech forest with an admixture of spruce and fir. Today it covers 92.29 ha, and the buffer zone is 142.14 ha. The area was enlarged in 2023 by including the Blachówka documentation site.

Efforts to protect this forest were made from 1908, and succeeded only in 1953. The beeches reach 35-40 m in height, and the stand, over 150 years old, is the result of natural succession on land heavily transformed by humans. The aim of protection also includes preserving the old workings, known as warpie.

Forest and rock

Three forest communities grow here: acidophilous lowland beech forest in the northern part, a warmth-loving orchid beech forest in the southern part, covered with funnels and subsidence hollows from former shafts, and fertile beech forest in the remaining areas.

The flora includes 15 species of trees, 9 species of shrubs, 103 species of herbaceous plants and 40 species of bryophytes. Among the orchids grow, among others, red helleborine, bird's-nest orchid, rusty-red helleborine and lady's slipper orchid. The bedrock is built mainly of limestones, marls and dolomites of the Middle Triassic.

Bats and the underground

Beneath the forest runs a system of shafts and galleries linked to the Tarnowskie Góry-Bytom Underground, which was created during mining that lasted from the 12th to the 20th century. Their length exceeds 300 km, and the area is the largest bat hibernation site in Upper Silesia. The Natura 2000 site Tarnowskie Góry-Bytom Underground covers over 3,490 hectares.

In the reserve you will find numerous traces of old silver and lead mining, such as funnels and subsidence hollows. It adjoins the disused Blachówka dolomite quarry, protected in 1995.

Nearby

Nearby, in Tarnowskie Góry, you can go underground at the Silver Mine in Tarnowskie Góry.

A few kilometres away is the Royal Fryderyk Mine.

Practical information

• Location: the Tarnowskie Góry Ridge, the border of Bytom and Tarnowskie Góry, Srebrna Góra.
• The area is under active protection. Check the rules of entry and of moving around the reserve with the manager or the municipal office.
• The underground is a bat hibernation site, so do not treat it as a sightseeing route.