THE TREBČE POND Location: Bistrica ob Sotli Category: Natural heritage

The river Bistrica once ran under Kolar’s wooden house. In years 1971 and 1972, the new road between Podsreda and Bistrica ob Sotli was being constructed and that is when the riverbed was moved to the south, directly under the foothills of Orlica. The abandoned river-sleeve of Bistrica has been turned into a pond, right next to Kolar’s homestead.

The pond receives water from the Perišče creek, flowing into it and on the eastern part of the pond, and an artificial outflow into river Bistrica has been constructed for water drainage. As the pond is not deep the flow-rate is quite high, the water is not temperature-stratified and therefore allows the underwater flora to thrive at the bottom.

In spring, the pond in Trebče becomes one of the most important spawning/breeding sites for numerous amphibians. Here, the experts have found the common frog, the toad, the agile frog, the alpine newt, the tree frog, the salamander and the mountain toad. From the kingdom of snakes, one can find the Aesculapian snake here.

At the time of the spawning, the road from Podsreda to Bistrica ob Sotli presents a deadly passage point for the amphibians. For some years now, the Kozjanski park is placing low barriers along the road, which prevent the amphibians to cross the road. By these barriers are buckets placed in a trench, in which the amphibians are then collected. Next, these amphibian-filled buckets have to be manually carried to the other side of the road and emptied into the pond.

 

Coordinates: 46.039200, 15.614200