Biodiversity Around My Town

Plants

•Type of conifer from cypress family.•Тhe amount varies from branched near ground shrub to tree height 10m.•The leaves are sharp needles, grouped in three vertebrae, green in color with a single white stripe on the inside.•Used in horticulture as a decorative shrub.•Appears in Vitosha Nature Park.

Juniperus communis

• Its branches have a common core.• It is used for colds, pneumonia, bronchitis, tuberculosis, cough.• It’s distributed near the settlements around the bushes and forests.• Appears in Vitosha Nature Park.

Black elderberry

• In Bulgaria, reaches a height of 35 meters and a diameter of about 50-60 cm.• The crown is narrow pyramidal, with short, slightly ascending branches•It has a thin, grayish-green leaves which are needles, collected by 5 in a strand.• Appears in Vitosha Nature Park.

White fir

• The stems reach a height of 1 m.• They are unbranched, straight and smooth, with opposite, ovate-elliptical.• The flowers are golden yellow wreaths.• In the middle stand five stamens with long handles and fused anthers.• Appears in Vitosha Nature Park.

Yellow Gentian

• Has up to 1 m stem is leaved with multiple consecutive leaves, and the top has 2-3 large golden yellow flowers.• Leaves are highly curved back and have brown spots inside.• Heavy brick red anthers are pendulous on long stalks, and between them there is a three-part orange stigma.• The stem is very tough.• Appears in Vitosha Nature Park.

Mountain Cream

Birds

• The body length is about 32-35 cm.• Its plumage is dark brown with small white spots, with the exception of flying feathers.• Beak is long, pointed and strong.• Appears high in the mountains, in coniferous and mixed forests.

Spotted Nutcracker

• It has colorful plumage.• On top of the body is black with a bluish glow. The face is pale, the crown and occiput are bright red.• Cheeks, shoulders and a thin longitudinal strip on the neck are white. The underside of the body is grayish white and red tail feathers over. Wings are black with white spots. •It inhabits deciduous, mixed and coniferous forests, parks and orchards.

Great Spotted Woodpecker

•It is long with the tail about 11 cm and weighs 10 grams.• Has carbonaceous black hat on his head, whitish cheeks and elongated whitish spot on nape.• Logistics bright spot serves as a visual link between the tits in the dark coniferous forests.• It inhabits coniferous forests.

Coal Tit

• The body length is 53-66 cm.• wingspan is 100-120 cm• weighs between 650 and 1 500 g.• It nests in trees.• The territory of Bulgaria is a protected species.• Appears in Vitosha Nature Park.

Big hawk

• The body length is about 18 cm.• Weight is 35-40 g.• Plumage is gray and brown.• The head is colored in yellow and black.• Beak is short and relatively weak.• Eats mostly insects.• Inhabits open plains and mountain areas.

Balkan Lark

Animals

Red forest ant

• It has rubiginous color.• The body is long 4-8 mm.• It eats honeydew from aphids, insects, carrion, etc.• It destroys many harmful insects and their larvae in the coniferous forests• Appears in coniferous forests.

Brook trout• Side has red spots.• Back is dark covered with bright points.• Size is 25-30 cm, but there are larger species.• Typical weight is 0.3 to 3 kg. • Inhabits clean and cold, rich in oxygen rivers.

Deer• It is a medium-sized herbivorous mammal.• Body length from 95 to 135 cm, width at front legs 65-75 cm, height at withers 65-75 cm and a total weight between 15 and 30.• It eats mainly grass, small fruits, leaves and shoots.• It lives in high places or mountains.

Greater Horseshoe Bat

• It is between 57 and 71 mm long.• It has 35–43 mm tail and a 350–400 mm wingspan.• It weighs up to 30 grams.•The fur is soft and fluffy.• The dorsal side hair is grey brown and the ventral side -grey-white.• It lives in warmer regions of areas of open trees and scrub, near areas of standing water, areas of limestone and human settlement.