PL
W artykule zestawiono dane o żółwiu błotnym w południowo-wschodniej części Wielkopolski. Najstarsza informacja pochodzi z Chocza z I połowy XVIII wieku. Jeszcze w połowie XX wieku, do roku 1966, był stwierdzany w okolicach Żerkowa, Krotoszyna, Ostrzeszowa i Kalisza, a około 1980 roku schwytano osobnika na Stawach Przygodzickich w powiecie ostrowskim. Dnia 4 listopada 2005 roku sfotografowano dorosłą samicę rodzimego podgatunku Emys o. orbicularis na stawach Rybin (pow. ostrzeszowski) w dolinie Baryczy. Dorosłego żółwia schwytano też na stawach Rybin latem 2007 roku, nie wiadomo jednak czy był to ten sam, czy inny osobnik. Zebrano też informacje o żółwiach stwierdzonych na tych stawach od połowy XX wieku do lat 1971–1973, kiedy wykonano ich przebudowę. Stanowisko to znajduje się 16 km na wschód od miejsca reintrodukcji młodych żółwi pochodzących z Polesia Lubelskiego w okolicy Goszcza (pow. oleśnicki), którą przeprowadzono w latach 1998 i 2001
EN
In Poland, the European Pond Turtle attains the northern border of its geographical range. It was common in our country until 19th Century but now breeds only in a few isolated places, although among them the Łęczna–Włodawa Lake District in Eastern Poland, housing the biggest population in Central Europe. Occasional records of single individuals have also been noted from almost all of the country. Its present numbers have been estimated at 700–800 individuals. A decline of its population is mostly due to human activity: drainage of water and marshy areas, regulation of rivers, elimination of local ponds and ox-bow lakes, which results in habitat loss, and destruction of breeding grounds by overgrowing and afforestation (Jabłoński 2001, Najbar 2001a, Rybacki 2003). The first mention about the existance of European Pond Turtle in the South Wielkopolska (SW Poland), in the vicinity of Chocz in Pleszew district, was given by Rzączyński (1742). The breeding was confirmed only once, in 1938, by the sighting of five young turtles near Żerków in Jarocin district. Since the 1930s till 1960s single specimens were caught or observed near Kalisz, Baszków and Przedborów (Berger 1957, Iwanowski et al. 1966, Anioła, Kuźniak 1968) and around 1980 one turtle was caught on Przygodzice Fishponds (Ostrów Wielkopolski district). In 1998 observations of several turtles was published from Witaszyce (Bajda 1998), but with no evidence that these animals belonged to this species, and not others, imported from abroad (e.g. popular in Poland Trachemys scripta elegans). On 4th November 2005 an adult female of native subspecies E. o. orbicularis (Fig. 2) was observed and photographed on the Rybin Fishponds (Kobyla Góra commune, Ostrzeszów district) in the Barycz river valley. In the summer 2007, one adult turtle was caught in a drained canal ca 700 meters ago, but without photos it is impossible to say if it was the same specimen. According to the interviews with local people, turtles were observed on these fishponds during 1950s and 1960s. Maybe a small population found refuge here, but it may have been the last representative of this long-life species. Rybin Fishponds are situated 16 km east from the forest ponds near Goszcz (Oleśnica district) where 40 and 20 2-years old European Pond Turtles, origin from the Łęczna–Włodawa Lake District, were reintroduced in 1998 and 2001 respectively