Botanical reserve Khomutovskaya steppe. Reserve "Khomutovskaya steppe. Islet of the Wild Field an hour's drive from civilization

The Khomutov steppe is the place where you can fully imagine what our land looked like during the time of the Scythians and Sarmatians, Pechenegs and Polovtsians, Kievan Rus and the battle on the Kalka River... Nowadays it is part of the Ukrainian steppe nature reserve. The reserve is located just 20 km from the Sea of ​​Azov, not far from the Donetsk-Novoazovsk highway. The entrance to the reserve is located in the village of Samsonovo.

The beginning of the reserve was laid in 1926, when a decision was made to organize the Khomutovskaya Steppe reserve. Before that, there was a herd of young horses of the Don Cossacks grazing here. Here and now a small herd of horses is grazing as part of an experiment on the conservation of steppe vegetation.

From different parts of the steppe, stone "women" (from the Turkic - ancestors) were brought here to recreate the complete primitiveness of the steppe. Some are installed at the entrance to the reserve, one of them is at the highest point of the reserve.

In 1976, People's Artist of the USSR S.F. It was here that Bondarchuk filmed the adaptation of the novel by A.P. Chekhov "Steppe". In honor of this, a memorial stone with a plaque was erected on the territory of the reserve.

Of course, the most beautiful time in the steppe is spring and early summer. The flowering time of different herbs, when one type of plant replaces another. Time of thunderstorms, fogs and beautiful sky. Here I was lucky to visit in May 2013 and April of this 2014. And in April I visited twice - in pursuit of the flowering of Vorontsov.

Here you can fully feel the endless expanse of the steppe, when the gaze runs beyond the horizon without clinging to anything. Here you can inhale the aroma of herbs and the singing of birds to the point of intoxication. Here you can walk without getting tired and admire the pristine beauty of the steppe...

There are two reserves in the Donetsk region - Khomutovskaya steppe and Kamenye Mohyly, which are branches of the Ukrainian steppe reserve. Today we will visit the Khomutovskaya steppe.

It is located near the village of Khomutovo, Novoazovsky district. The Sea of ​​Azov is located 20 kilometers south of the reserve.

The area of ​​the Khomutovskaya steppe is 1028 hectares. The reserve is located on the Azov coastal plain, which is characterized by flat-wavy relief. The territory of the Khomutovskaya steppe is a plateau, gradually descending towards the Gruzsky Elanchik River and cut through by small ravines with gentle slopes, which are covered with a layer of loess-like loams. Tertiary (Sarmatian) limestones are exposed along the river bank and in some places on the slopes of the beams. The soils are the Azov variety of ordinary chernozems, which are distinguished by a large thickness of humus horizons and a significant carbonate content.

The Khomutovskaya steppe received the status of a reserve in 1926. Prior to this, the area was used for grazing and haymaking. Before the revolution, it was the herd cleanup of the Don Cossacks. In 1926, the Mariupol District Executive Committee issued a resolution on the organization of local nature reserves - the Khomutovskaya Steppe, Belosaraiskaya Spit and Stone Graves and transferred them to the jurisdiction of the Mariupol Museum of Local Lore. Ten years later, the Donetsk Regional Executive Committee declared the Khomutovskaya steppe a reserve of regional significance. Since 1947, it has become a state reserve of republican and later state significance.

Animal world of the reserve

The animal and feathered world of the reserve is quite diverse. Large and crested larks, gray partridge, millet, common and black-fronted shrike, and shrike nest on flat areas. There are a cuckoo, a tit-remez, a nightjar. Of the birds of prey, you can meet the kestrel, kite, harrier. Large and small bittern, teal, mallard, red heron and others live in reeds along the river bank.

Mammals are represented by fox, weasel, ferrets - steppe and bandaging. Common hare, mole rat, hamster, ground squirrel, large jerboa, eared and common hedgehog. In recent years, a successful reacclimatization of the bobak has begun.

Of the reptiles, there are a quick lizard, a steppe viper, a copperhead, a yellow-bellied snake, a water snake and an ordinary one. In the river there are bream, perch, roach and other fish, a lot of crayfish.

Vegetation of the reserve

The steppe vegetation of the reserve is a variant of forb-feather grass steppes. In a few places - on the tops of inter-beam watersheds and in the upper part of steep slopes, forb-grass groupings have been preserved with a predominance of Lessing's feather grass, Ukrainian hairy and beautiful, as well as furrowed fescue. In their herbage, there are also Romanian alfalfa and colorful herbs: drooping sage, whorled and Austrian steppe plantain, tuberous gooseberry, Volga adonis, Marshall's thyme, broad-leaved kermek, and in some places - rare in Ukraine and in the Donbass plant Tatar katran.

As a result of the introduction of the reserve regime (cessation of grazing and a significant reduction in haymaking) steppe meadowing occurs, which is expressed in the spread of long-rhizome cereals. Large areas on gentle slopes, inter-beam watersheds and flat areas of the plateau are occupied by groups of creeping and hairy couch grass, awnless brome, narrow-leaved bluegrass and reed reed grass. Groupings look like compact thickets. The admixture of other steppe species is insignificant: bristly yarrow, steppe speedwell, Russian bedstraw, small cornflower, lanceolate carnation.

Along the plume of the slopes and on the terraces along the Gruzsky Elanchik there are small areas of steppe meadows. The vegetation cover is dominated by fescue, meadow fescue, narrow-leaved bluegrass, red clover and changeable. They are mixed with the rank of meadow and tuberous, field harrow, early sedge, hill geranium, Thuringian hatma.

Along the channel of the Gruzsky Elanchik along the territory of the reserve stretch high thickets of common reed with an admixture of water cake, drooping and fox sedge, thickets of white, brittle, red willow. In total, there are more than 500 plant species in the reserve.

• The awakening of the steppe from winter dormancy begins at the first days of April. Against the brown background of last year's plant residues, the greens of new leaves and the first flowers are breaking through - pale purple bells of netted saffron, yellow stars of goose onions, a white-pink haze of spring grains, golden spots of Volga adonis are spilling. The edges of the shrubbery are turning blue from the drooping spell.

If in April the steppe is inherent yellowish brown color, then the rocky slopes at this time are a multi-colored carpet: the blue spots of the Pallas hyacinth are interspersed with yellow serpentine tulips and blue, purple, yellow, cream circles of low iris. The Schrenk tulip is especially beautiful - it blooms very beautifully in dark red.

• In the first half of May the steppe is green with dark-purple spots of the crow, yellow - shrubby dereza, white - thin-leaved birdweed.

• The most colorful steppe in the second half of May - early June. In the wind, the silvery feathers of feather grass are agitated, interspersed with dark blue tufts of drooping sage, huge caps of the Tatar katran are scattered everywhere. In some places, the violet aspect is given by purple mullein, pink - tuberous gooseberry, blue - small-colored catnip, white - six-petalled meadowsweet, steppe plantain, yellow - steppe euphorbia and Segier, dyer's woad.

The slopes of the Klimushanskaya ravine turn yellow from the blooming Volga calofaki - a rare plant in Ukraine. On limestone outcrops - a solid yellow carpet of flax Chernyaev.

• In the second half of June The color scheme of the steppe is formed mainly by prickly thorn grass, dry-colored serpuha, kachim panicled, Don sainfoin, which give it pink and red shades. Russian bedstraw, oriental cornflower and Romanian alfalfa diversify the general background with yellow spots. On some plants, fruits are already appearing by that time. This gives some areas a brown tint.

• In July, the steppe loses its beauty. Straw-brown stems of plants with ripe fruits are visible everywhere. Only pale yellow scabiosa, oriental mullein, common cutter bloom. On the outcrops, a white-pink carpet is formed by the cretaceous femur, the tall kachim, and the short-headed yurea.

• In August, broad-leaved kermek stands out with lilac caps. On the outcrops - kachim tall and Ural capitula, hairy feather grass also blooms.

• In autumn, life in the steppe seems to freeze. Individual specimens of late-summer plants bloom, and the wind drives the “tumbleweed” - the broken off dried parts of the katran, prickly thorn, kermek, panicled kachim and common cutter.

Map of the Khomutovskaya steppe

The reserve is one of the few remnants of the steppes that once occupied large areas in the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov. In its open spaces one can get acquainted with the rich in the past flora and fauna of the southern Azov steppes.

Scientists in the Khomutovskaya steppe are doing a lot of work on studying the flora and fauna of the steppes, using them for the needs of the national economy. Students of higher educational institutions do their practice here, and secondary school students get acquainted with the flora (which we will talk about later) and the animal world. The reserve hosts numerous excursions.

A few words about one architectural monument of Ancient Greece. built from 421 BC to 406. It is believed that the building was installed where Athena and Poseidon once argued over the ownership of Attica.

Be sure to give a loved one a good gift! will be an excellent solution to this problem due to the fact that you can buy quite high-quality and inexpensive things there.

Photo: Yulia ANDRIENKO

Change text size: A A

When the news makes you want to crawl under the pillow, and the urban landscape even in autumn seems like a miserable craft of a half-educated apprentice, you need to drop everything and go somewhere. It is best to go where the horizon is not snarled with houses and the boundless steppe is open to the eyes.

It is there that you will feel your closeness to the nomads, the textbook Scythians, Pechenegs, Sarmatians will suddenly rise in your head, you will catch the clatter of the hooves of a rushing herd and the wind filled with thyme and wormwood will fill your lungs.

Islet of the Wild Field an hour's drive from civilization

An hour's drive from Donetsk - in the Novoazovsky district near the border with the Russian Federation, the Khomutovskaya steppe is spread - a virgin island of the Wild Field, never touched by a plow, not disturbed by a human hand. The reserve is located on the left bank of the Gruzsky Elanchik - a shallow river, slowly carrying its slow waters. Here, in general, everything is leisurely, in everything there is a wise mind and some deep understanding of the laws of life.

During its history, the Khomutovskaya steppe changed its subordination several times, while maintaining the status of a protected area. In 1926, the Mariupol District Executive Committee decided not to plow the steppe, but to transfer it to the jurisdiction of the Mariupol Regional Museum of Local Lore. In 1947, the Khomutovskaya steppe became a reserve of Republican significance. Until 2014, the steppe is the central branch of the Ukrainian steppe nature reserve. And since June 3, 2015, it has been a branch of the Biospheric Specially Protected Natural Territory of Republican Significance.

Mistress of the Khomutovskaya steppe

Meets us Maevskaya Julia - Deputy Director for Research in the Reserve. She has only been in charge of this post for a few months, having returned from Russia and taken into her own hands the endless Khomutov steppe and a small house without any conveniences and excesses of civilization - it has no water, no bathroom, no Internet. At the same time there is a feeling of home and warmth. In addition to Yulia, the house is inhabited by her husband Yuri, her right hand on household issues, daughter Nastya, and also the starling Zhora, a jackdaw, a dog, a cat with kittens, chickens squeak in a box and melancholic giant snails graze in the aquarium - Achatina. Julia brought birds, a cat with kittens, snails and a dog from Russia, where she left the war with her family for a short time.

People were carrying trunks with things, and I - animals and birds. We have a jackdaw with a wounded wing, it can no longer survive in nature, - says Yulia. - The fact is that since childhood I have had a feeling of guilt in front of the birds. Once, on vacation in Svyatogorsk, my parents and I rescued a jackdaw chick that had fallen out of the nest, we got it out, became attached, it already recognized us, but they didn’t allow me to take it with me. We left, and soon learned that he was dead. The chick was tame and sociable, not afraid of people, sat on the shoulder of a drunken tourist and he killed him. I never forgave myself. And when I found out that according to the advertisement they were giving a jackdaw into good hands, I took this bird to myself.

The plans include the creation of a center for the rehabilitation and reintroduction of animals

Suddenly I understand that if there was anyone to entrust the reserve, then only to her. For such a person, any pichuga is a personality and every blade of grass is a value.

There should not be cats in the reserve, their place is next to people, we try to catch them, give them to people in the village, this animal is not typical for the steppe, and therefore it will inevitably upset the balance in the animal world, - Yulia surprises me. I would never have thought of such a thing. - We our cat like this: it was raining, she was lying on the ground under a piece of slate and feeding the kittens, several ducklings were warming themselves on top of them, and a yellow-bellied snake was dozing on top of the ducklings - a representative of the Red Book of Donbass!

Today, excursions are prohibited in the Khomutovskaya steppe, they make an exception for us.

We are not a commercial organization, and therefore we do not have the right to conduct excursions, horseback riding, etc. - says Julia. - Although this money would not be superfluous in such a large economy. The territory of the reserve 1030 hectares consists of unplowed steppe. It includes an absolute zone where no activity is allowed, and everyone is forbidden to walk there, except for research workers, but there is a relative zone. On it we are with you, horses graze on it. Today, a project is being prepared for the Council of Ministers, where partial economic activity is allowed in this zone. In addition, it is planned to create a center for the rehabilitation and reintroduction of animals that need human help. Children will be able to communicate with them, learn to love all living things.

We are walking along the so-called relative zone. Yulia shows plants that are not characteristic of the steppe, their appearance here is solely the merit of man.

This plant, - our guide points to a forked yellow leaf, - is a contemporary of dinosaurs, this is Ginkgo biloba. In China, it is called the silver apricot, it begins to bear fruit at the age of 40, and lives up to five thousand years. Can you imagine? The famous medicine is made from the leaves and fruits of the plant.

It seems that Julia knows absolutely everything about every leaf.

There is also a mini-zoo with inhabitants that are not typical for the steppe: peacocks, royal pheasants, guinea fowls. It's more for guests.

Babies are different

Julia shows us the corral with horses. Today their number in the Khomutovskaya steppe is 40 animals. Horses are needed for the real steppe, because they eat and trample those plants that can multiply too much and drown out other plants, which are also very important for the reference steppe. Unlike other ungulates, horses do not cause significant damage to the vegetation cover of the steppe and, in a certain amount, are a necessary attribute of the steppe reserve.

In reality, our reserve cannot pull such a quantity. There should be no more than 16 individuals in this area and everything is under supervision. They graze ten days in different territories so that the vegetation can recover, because there are a lot of Red Book plants here, - our guide explains.

We go to the steppe. On both sides of the path, among the threads of feather grass, there are stone women. Their bodies are covered with colorful lichens and moss. But only to such an amateur as I, these statues seem to be the same gloomy idols.

This is a funeral figure, in her hands she either has a bowl, or nothing, - points to one of the women Stanislav Kochetkov, with whom we came together from Donetsk. - But this is a typical woman, called a Slav, she was a symbol of fertility, who has signs of pregnancy or developed breasts, hips. If we see a thorough elaboration of details, this is the Khazar tradition.

It’s better not to touch all this with your hands, on their bodies we can see unique types of lichens that are peculiar only to Donbass, you won’t find them anywhere else in the world, Yulia warns. - In general, you need to behave in such a way in the reserve so as not to interfere with anything around. I often recall the words of Professor Preobrazhensky, who said that a scientist should grope in nature, and not put a crown on his head and shout that I am the king of beasts.

From afar it seems - we see another woman. We come closer, but no, it turns out that this is a memorial stone as a sign that 41 years ago, People's Artist of the USSR Sergei Bondarchuk filmed a film adaptation of Chekhov's story "The Steppe" here.

The biggest enemy is man

It is amazing to see rare flowering plants among the feather grass in late autumn, the more beautiful their stingy beauty is.

And when do fires happen in the steppe? I ask.

The fire in the steppe, the so-called fell, is a natural phenomenon, the nomads even set fire to the places of camps on purpose and went further, - Maevskaya calmly explains. – Plants have a powerful root system and are restored. It is only terrible if the fall occurs in the spring, when birds nest, cubs hatch, and plants begin to bloom. But in no case should a furrow be made to prevent a fire, this is a much greater harm to nature.

Yulia says that there is a lot of work to be done - it is necessary to restore the populations of the eared hedgehog, marmot marmot and many other animals that used to live in the steppe, for this it is necessary to create a food base typical of them. In addition, teren is growing very much, taking more and more steppe territory.

By the way, this is also the influence of a person, - Yulia is convinced. - Near the steppe, people have planted trees, the fruits of which the jay feeds on, she hides the fruits in the steppe and plants that have never been here begin to grow. If you leave everything as it is, then in 200 years the Khomutovskaya steppe will disappear as a phenomenon, there will be a forest park.

Suddenly, in the depths behind the trees we see a cozy gazebo, as peaceful as everything around. We hide in it from the beginning of the rain. The sky, which had previously pleased with the rare rays of the sun, suddenly darkened and remembered autumn. It's time to go to Donetsk, and the steppe will continue to sigh with feather grass, as it has been doing for hundreds of years, and wait for us to visit in the spring.