Following the first information day on Life4Oak Forests held on September 18 in Riolo Terme, and the three subsequent evening online meetings that have dealt with the Ecology, Flora and Fauna of oak forests and the Parco regionale della Vena del gesso Romagnola, Sunday, September 26th was held the first field trip of the “Cammina Boschi”!
The excursion, after welcoming the participants, started on the Borgo Tossignano riverfront where, after having crossed the Santerno river, we started to climb on steep clayey grounds. Here it was possible to observe the pioneer vegetation of these environments and some of the most common bushes such as blackthorn, hawthorn, Spanish broom and the fragrant Artemisia cretacea. Exciting the sighting of the rare Black stork! New species in the Parco regionale della Vena del Gesso Romagnola.
In the surroundings of the locality “Debolezza” we met the first woods of Downey oak and manna ash that accompanied the group up to the top of Monte Penzola from where we descended again in the valley.
We then proceeded to the information and refreshment point of the Casa del Fiume where we could only take a short break due to the threatening weather; the return trip for the participants was in fact rather “wet” as they were surprised by a fair amount of rain.
The western most area of the Park around Mount Penzola proved to be interesting both for its naturalistic aspects and for its strong links with man’s agro-silvo-pastoral activities.