The two faces of the forest
The 3200 hectares of forest on the Uccellina mountains, traditionally called this even if they are hills, are the great evergreen treasure of the Park. In fact, it is a single large holm oak forest which from a certain distance may seem all the same, but which reveals very different aspects to those who travel through it.
On the slopes facing east and north, the trees grow better, and as in any Mediterranean environment, the key factor is water. Here, especially at the lower altitudes, water is more abundant and the sunlight is lower, while the hills protect the trees from the winds that blow from the sea and increase the loss of water from the leaves. The dominant species is the holm oak, which is often associated with the strawberry tree, while in the more humid and protected valleys there are ash trees, maples, turkey oaks and hornbeams, and occasionally also laurel trees. In the undergrowth you can find cyclamens, butcher’s broom and “strappabrache”.
The slopes facing west and south are hotter and drier, both due to the greater sunshine and the effect of the sea winds, which typically blow from the southwest. Here the holm oaks are smaller and in many areas, especially at lower altitudes near the sea, the holm oak forest becomes scrub with the presence of heather, phillyrea and mastic, or even garrigue, dominated by low juniper, rosemary and cistus shrubs. Very hot in summer, but mild, flowery and fragrant in winter and early spring.
But this is not the only key to understanding these woods.
The imprint of history
The Uccellina woods are in fact what remains of the woods that once covered almost the entire Italian coast. They were still holm oak woods, but different from how they appear today.
They were in fact made up of much larger trees, which in the lower part of the slopes facing inland easily reached 25 meters in height, and since no one cut them down
they also lived for centuries, often exceeding a thousand years of age. The small bands of hunters and gatherers limited themselves to gathering acorns and hunting, obtaining wood for heating and cooking from trees or branches blown down by the wind.
Three thousand years ago, with the arrival of large communities of settled farmers, everything changed. From then until the last century the forest was regularly cut down, generally every ten or fifteen years. From each holm oak stump several shoots are reborn within two years, small trunks that are well suited to both cutting and the production of charcoal, which is easier to transport and has a high calorific value. Even today, the remains of charcoal burners’ pitches can be found almost everywhere. Around human settlements, such as the Abbey of San Rabano, the forest was eliminated to make room for crops and also to avoid being taken by surprise by pirates or bandits. And the soil left uncovered by cuts and clearings was easily eroded by the rains that came down the steep slopes.
The holm oak forest began to recover in the eighteenth century when these hills became a hunting reserve, and especially after the establishment of the Park in 1975. Today the cuts are rare and limited, and serve on the one hand to preserve the traditional landscape of the Maremma scrub , and on the other to provide nourishment to deer and roe deer (which feed on grasses and shoots) and many species of birds (which feed on the berries of the shrubs that settle in the cutting areas while the holm oaks are still small). In the most favorable areas, the forest is thinned out and started to become a tall holm oak forest.
Over time, which for a forest means several decades, the Uccellina mountains will host a forest made up of increasingly larger trees, alternating with clearings opened by fires started by lightning and small areas in different stages of regrowth. An increasingly complex ecosystem rich in biodiversity, where perhaps every sign of human activity will be completely lost.
Yet they are there
In the thick woods, not to mention the scrub, spotting animals is more difficult than in the Grand Ducal pine forest or in the open areas around the Ombrone and its mouth.
However, the Uccellina mountains are very well populated. Although they are not easy to see here, except at dawn and after sunset, these woods are a refuge area for porcupines, fallow deer, roe deer, wild boars, foxes and wolves. In fact, one always encounters many traces of it: paths in the scrub, footprints, dens, burrows, wild boar pits, soil disturbed and turned over by wild boars, porcupine quills. It is more difficult to notice the presence of martens and wild cats, particularly elusive animals, as well as that of hedgehogs, shrews, octopus and mice that move in the densest vegetation and foliage on the ground.
For birds, these woods are often a seasonal opportunity. Many migrants stop for a break. Wood pigeons, starlings, finches, robins, thrushes and blackbirds winter here taking advantage of the abundance of berries and acorns. In spring and summer, nightingales, hoopoes and cuckoos arrive. Instead, blackcaps, tits, treecreepers and the omnipresent jays are resident, dispersing the seeds of the trees and accelerating the renewal and spread of the forest. In the low Mediterranean scrub near the sea you can find magnanina, nightjar, and eye-cook. To notice their presence, it is best to learn to recognize their songs.
A little easier, if you pay attention, is the sighting of birds of prey, such as hen harrier, merlin, lanner and harrier.
WHAT TO KNOW
WHERE TO GO
Sehemu ya 3200 ya misitu ya milima ya Uccellina, ambayo kwa kawaida huitwa hivyo hata ikiwa ni vilima, ni hazina kubwa ya kijani kibichi ya Hifadhi. Kwa kweli, ni msitu mmoja mkubwa wa mwaloni ambao kutoka umbali fulani unaweza kuonekana sawa, lakini ambao unafunua pande tofauti sana kwa wale wanaosafiri kupitia. Katika mteremko wa upande wa mashariki na kaskazini, miti hukua vizuri zaidi, na kama ilivyo katika mazingira yoyote ya Mediterania, jambo kuu ni maji. Hapa, hasa katika maeneo ya chini, maji ni mengi na mwangaza wa jua ni mdogo, wakati vilima huwalinda miti kutokana na upepo unaovuma kutoka baharini na kuongeza hasara ya maji kutoka kwa majani. Mti wa mti wa holm oak ndio unaotajwa zaidi, na katika mabonde yenye unyevunyevu na yenye ulinzi kuna miti ya ash, maple, turkey oak na hornbeams, na mara kwa mara pia miti ya laurel. Katika misitu unaweza kupata cyclamens, butcher's broom na <unk>strappabrache<unk>. Mteremko unaoelekea magharibi na kusini ni moto na kavu, kwa sababu ya jua kubwa na athari ya upepo wa bahari, ambao kwa kawaida hupiga kutoka kusini magharibi. Katika maeneo mengi, hasa katika maeneo ya chini karibu na bahari, misitu ya mwaloni inakuwa scrub na uwepo wa heather, phyllia na mastic, au hata garrigue, kutawaliwa na chini juniper, rosemary na cistus vichaka. Ni moto sana wakati wa kiangazi, lakini ni laini, ina maua na harufu nzuri wakati wa majira ya baridi kali na mapema wakati wa masika. Lakini hiyo si ufunguo pekee wa kuelewa misitu hiyo. Kwa kweli, misitu ya Uccellina ni mabaki ya misitu ambayo wakati mmoja ilifunika karibu pwani nzima ya Italia. Bado zilikuwa misitu ya mialoni, lakini zilikuwa tofauti na jinsi zinavyoonekana leo. Kwa kweli, miti hiyo ilikuwa kubwa zaidi, na katika sehemu ya chini ya mteremko wa nchi kavu, miti hiyo ilifikia urefu wa mita 25 na kwa kuwa hakuna mtu aliyeiangusha, miti hiyo iliishi kwa karne nyingi, mara nyingi ikafikia umri wa miaka elfu moja. Makundi madogo ya wawindaji na wakusanyaji walijizuia kukusanya makapi na kuwinda, kupata kuni kwa ajili ya joto na kupika kutoka kwa miti au matawi yaliyopigwa na upepo. Miaka elfu tatu iliyopita, kwa kuwasili kwa jamii kubwa za wakulima, kila kitu kilibadilika. Kuanzia wakati huo hadi karne iliyopita msitu huo ulikatwa kwa ukawaida, kwa kawaida kila baada ya miaka kumi au kumi na tano. Kutoka kwa kila shina la mwaloni, shina kadhaa huanza kuzaliwa tena ndani ya miaka miwili, mifupa midogo ambayo inafaa sana kwa kukata na kwa uzalishaji wa makaa ya mawe, ambayo ni rahisi kusafirisha na ina thamani ya juu ya joto. Hata leo, mabaki ya viwanda vya kuchoma makaa ya mawe yanaweza kupatikana karibu kila mahali. Miti iliyokuwa karibu na makazi ya watu, kama vile Abbey ya San Rabano, iliondolewa ili kutengeneza nafasi ya mazao na pia ili kuepuka kushambuliwa na maharamia au maharamia. Na udongo uliobaki wazi kwa kukatwa na kuondolewa uliharibiwa kwa urahisi na mvua iliyokuja chini ya mteremko mkali. Miti ya mwaloni ilianza kuimarika katika karne ya 18, wakati vilima hivyo vilipokuwa hifadhi ya uwindaji, na hasa baada ya kuanzishwa kwa Hifadhi hiyo mwaka 1975. Leo, vipande hivyo ni vichache na ni vya kawaida, na kwa upande mmoja hutumika kuhifadhi mandhari ya kitamaduni ya maremma scrub, na kwa upande mwingine kutoa chakula kwa deer na roe deer (ambayo hula nyasi na shina) na spishi nyingi za ndege (ambazo hula matunda ya vichaka ambavyo huishi katika maeneo ya kupunguzwa wakati holm oaks bado ni ndogo). Katika maeneo yenye hali nzuri zaidi, msitu huo hupunguzwa na kuanza kuwa msitu mrefu wa mialoni. Baada ya muda, ambayo kwa msitu inamaanisha miongo kadhaa, milima ya Uccellina itakaribisha msitu ulioundwa na miti mikubwa zaidi, ikibadilishana na uwazi uliofunguliwa na moto ulioanzishwa na umeme na maeneo madogo katika hatua tofauti za ukuaji. Mfumo wa ikolojia unaozidi kuwa tata na wenye utajiri wa viumbe hai, ambapo labda kila ishara ya shughuli za binadamu itapotea kabisa. Hata hivyo, katika misitu mikubwa, bila kutaja vichaka, ni vigumu zaidi kuona wanyama kuliko katika msitu wa misonobari ya Grand Ducal au katika maeneo ya wazi karibu na Ombrone na mdomo wake. Hata hivyo, milima ya Uccellina ina watu wengi sana. Ingawa si rahisi kuwaona hapa, isipokuwa wakati wa mapambazuko na baada ya jua kutua, misitu hii ni mahali pa kimbilio kwa pomboo, nyati, nyati, mbweha, mbweha na mbwa mwitu. Kwa kweli, mtu hukutana na alama nyingi za mawe hayo: njia katika vichaka, nyayo za miguu, mapango, mashimo, mashimo ya mbweha, udongo uliovurugwa na kuangushwa na mbweha, ncha za mbweha. Ni vigumu zaidi kugundua uwepo wa marten na paka wa mwituni, hasa wanyama wasioonekana, na vilevile wa hedgehogs, shrews, octopus na panya ambao husafiri katika mimea na majani mengi zaidi ardhini. Kwa ndege, misitu hiyo mara nyingi ni fursa ya majira. Wahamiaji wengi husimama ili kupumzika. Njiwa wa msituni, ndege aina ya starling, finch, robin, thrushes na blackbirds huishi hapa wakati wa majira ya baridi kali kwa kutumia wingi wa matunda na matango. Katika majira ya kuchipua na majira ya kiangazi, vipepeo, na kuku huja. Badala yake, blackcaps, tits, treecreepers na jays omnipresent ni wakazi, kueneza mbegu za miti na kuharakisha upya na kuenea kwa msitu. Katika vichaka vya chini vya Mediterania karibu na bahari unaweza kupata magnanina, nightjar, na eye-cook. Ili kuona kuwapo kwao, ni afadhali kujifunza kutambua nyimbo zao. Kwa mfano, unaweza kuona ndege wa mwitu kama vile hen harrier, merlin, lanner, na harrier. KUJUA WAPI KUWA NAWAZA