Bukačka, nature reserve in Sedloňov, Czechia

Bukačka is a national nature reserve on the main ridge of the Orlické Mountains, covering a mixed beech-spruce forest with small spring areas and two high mountain meadows. A path divides the open grassland into an upper and a lower meadow, and the terrain rises from about 910 to 1025 meters above sea level.

The area received legal protection in 1954 as one of the older reserves in the Orlické Mountains. Its designation aimed to safeguard a forest that had kept old-growth features, with dead wood and hollow trees still standing in place.

The lower meadow attracts attention in spring with thousands of wild daffodils blooming around the forest springs on the western slopes. Local conservation practice keeps the meadows open by cutting them in a mosaic pattern, so the ground never looks the same from one year to the next.

The reserve is best reached on foot from the surrounding forest roads, and the wetter sections around the springs can be soft underfoot in spring. Wear sturdy shoes and keep to the path, especially where the two meadows meet near the Polish border.

The place is sometimes called the botanical garden of the Orlické Mountains because of its many protected plant and animal species. The smallest Czech mammal, the Eurasian least shrew, is especially numerous here, finding ideal conditions in the wet meadows and peat-rich ground.