I
Spring
The southern festoon flies from April to the end of May.
A forest older than memory.
Natural Monument · Šalinac, Smederevo
Scroll · the story goes in order
44°41′24″ N 21°00′59″ E
01About the Lug
An island of old forest in the plain.
On the alluvial plain near Smederevo, three kilometres from the Danube and close to the mouth of the Velika Morava, the last part of the former floodplain forests of pedunculate oak and narrow-leaved ash has been preserved.
Forests like this once covered the whole plain. Today they are a rarity in Serbia and in the Balkans. The Lug has been protected since 1971 — now as a natural monument and as part of the European Emerald Network.
About the Lug →
Šalinački lug
The Lug in numbers
168
large pedunculate oaks
about two hundred years old
19 ha
of protected land
of which about 11.5 ha is forest
37
recorded bird species
among them the barn owl, the middle spotted woodpecker and the European bee-eater
Emerald
RS0000045
part of the European ecological network for the conservation of rare habitats
02The Oaks
Giants of the Lug
Some trees are more than 1.30 m in diameter, and the largest measured as much as 2.60 m. So many old oaks in one place can hardly be found in Serbia any more.
Meet the oaks →
Dead wood. Living habitat.
A fallen or hollow tree is not the end of the forest. In old, rotting wood the larvae of the stag beetle and the great capricorn beetle develop, and in the cavities owls and woodpeckers nest.
That is why old trees and stumps should stay where they are.
Barn owl
Tyto alba
It nests in the cavities of old oaks. Šalinački lug is the only known such place in Serbia.
European bee-eater
Merops apiaster
One of the 37 bird species recorded in the Lug.
Dog rose
Rosa canina
The fruit of the wild rose, autumn food for birds.
Cut-leaved teasel
Dipsacus laciniatus
The dry heads stay in the meadow through the winter.
03Flora and Fauna
Life among the oaks.
II
Summer
The great capricorn beetle flies from May to September.
III
Autumn
The pedunculate oak bears a heavy crop of acorns every three to five years.
IV
Winter
When the leaves fall, the outlines of two-century-old crowns remain.
04The Four Seasons
The Lug through the four seasons
Danube
Smederevo
Šalinački lug
05Visit the Lug
Three kilometresfrom the Danube.
- ŠalinacCity of Smederevo
- 44°41′24″ N21°00′59″ E
- 1.5 kmfrom the Velika Morava
- about 70 mabove sea level
06Guardians of the Lug
Under protection since 1971
Since the Lug was protected, the forest has been renewing itself: where there was once grazing, young oak seedlings now grow.
Guardians of the Lug →