Let’s start this week with TOP-10 best photos coming from Poland. This year national winners presenting us mostly shots of natural reserves and park. Take a chance to enjoy stunning landscapes and artistic vision of photographers.

Suwałki Landscape Park

Suwałki Landscape Park (Suwalski Park Krajobrazowy) is a protected area (Landscape Park) in north-eastern Poland, established in 1976, covering an area of 62.84 square kilometres (24.26 sq mi). The Park lies within Podlaskie Voivodeship, in Suwałki County (Gmina Jeleniewo, Gmina Przerośl, Gmina Rutka-Tartak, Gmina Wiżajny). Within the Landscape Park are three nature reserves.

Pieniny

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Macedonia choose their national winners of Wiki Loves Earth 2015. Once we called Macedonia the country of lakes. And the winning photos demonstrated that we were right. There are 5 lakes in the short-list of best photos of WLE 2015 Macedonia. Take a look!

Lake Ohrid

Lake Ohrid straddles the mountainous border between southwesternMacedonia and eastern Albania. It is one of Europe’s deepest and oldest lakes, preserving a unique aquatic ecosystem that is of worldwide importance, with more than 200 endemic species. 

The importance of the lake was further emphasized when it was declared a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1979 and when, in 2010, NASA decided to name one of Titan’s lakes after Lake Ohrid. In 2014, the Ohrid-Prespa Transboundary Reserve between Albania and Macedonia was added to UNESCO’s World Network of Biosphere Reserves.^[3] The towns situated at the lakeside are Pogradec in Albania, along with Ohrid and Struga in Macedonia. The lake is otherwise densely surrounded by settlements in the form of villages and resorts – in both basin countries. Continue reading “TOP-10 pictures of Macedonia”

International team of WLE 2015 asked national organizers to choose quality, featured, valued images. What image is quality? Quality images are photos that meet certain quality standards and are valuable for Wikimedia projects. They must be the work of Commons contributors; they need not be extraordinary or outstanding, but merely well-composed and generally well-executed.

Today we presenting you some of quality pictures form France.

Anchusa azurea

Anchusa azurea is a species of flowering plant in the family Boraginaceae, known by the common names garden anchusa^[1] and Italian bugloss (or just “bugloss”). It is a bristly perennial which reaches just over half a meter in height. It has straight lance-shaped leaves and petite tubular flowers of bright violet-blue. This species is native to Europe and western Asia and eastern Maghreb  but is well-known elsewhere as a noxious weed. In Crete it is called agoglossos and the locals eat the tender stems boiled, steamed or fried.

Numerous cultivars have been selected for garden use, of which ‘Loddon Royalist’ has gained the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit.

Andromeda polifolia

Continue reading “WLE 2015 France – quality pictures”

Wiki Loves Earth 2015 has ended in the most of the countries. And now it’s time to evaluate the photos and select the best of them for international part of the competition. We got first results and Top-10 photos from Pakistan.

As you probably remember we wrote that Pakistanis users were extremely active and uploaded over 11 000 photos. That made Pakistan the absolute leader in the country race till the last week before the end of the contest. Nevertheless organizers managed to choose Top-10 photos of Pakistan in the first couple of days after the end of WLE 2015.

«WLE 2015 took place in Pakistan from 1 till 31 May. We have got over 11 000 uploaded photos. We promoted the contest with social media and central notice banner. The local BBC burro made a story about Wikipedia Loves Northern Pakistan and that’s also gave us extra coverage and good number of participants. Our national part of the contest was focused only on northern areas of Pakistan. That’s the reason why we named it Wikipedia Loves Northern Pakistan. We believe that the northern part of the country is the most beautiful and attractive for the photo competition.

We decided to launch ongoing selecting prosess from the 1st day of the contest. So we asked our jury from the last year competition (Yaroslov from Russia, Daniele from Germany and Marc from Belgium) to judge these year pictures. National team shortlisted 150 photos and gave them to jury. So that’s how we choose national winners that fast», – commented the results of the contest SAQIB QAYYUM, national organizer of WLE Pakistan.

The international winners of Wiki Loves Earth 2015 are yet to be announced, but the Top-10 photos of Pakistan are here: Continue reading “TOP-10 pictures of Pakistan”

Already 247 beautiful photos were uploaded to the Wikimedia Commons during Wiki Loves Earth in Serbia!

 

Gorgeous news from Andorra – we can enjoy beautiful pictures from this green country!

Andorran team carries on an intrigue and refuses to give any details such as places of these photos. So, we can show you only winners without prize-list!

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Germany is one of the participants who can receive your photos up to June 30.

You can take part in the contest with homemade photos with particular national parks, nature reserves, natural monuments, Nature Park, Biosphere Reserve and other objects from the list.

For your attention several beautiful places in Germany where you can take your photos and upload its to the Commons.

Hainich National Park (German: Nationalpark Hainich), founded on December 31, 1997, is the 13th national park inGermany and the only one in Thuringia. One of the main objectives of the park is the protection of native beech forest. In 2011, the park was added to the Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and the Ancient Beech Forests of Germany World Heritage Site.

The goal of Hainich National Park is to restore a large section of central European forest to its primordial state.

The Bavarian Forest National Park (German: Nationalpark Bayerischer Wald) is a national park in the Eastern Bavarian Forest immediately on Germany‘s border with the Czech Republic. It was founded on 7 October 1970 as the firstnational park in Germany. Since its expansion on 1 August 1997 it has covered an area of 24,250 hectares. Together with the neighbouring Czech Bohemian Forest the Bavarian Forest forms the largest contiguous area of forest in Central Europe.

Especially protected are the spruce-dominated highland forests, mixed mountain forests of fir, beech and spruce trees and water meadow spruce woods in the valleys. Although a few remnants of ancient forest remain, the National Park area is still heavily influenced by the former forestry industry. Since nature is now left to take its course again, there is no human intervention when there are catastrophic events such as large scale bark beetle infestation. This resulted in the 1990s in the death of a portion of the high elevation forests and triggered controversial discussions amongst the residents of the National Park, which highlighted differing attitudes to the wilderness. As the result of a compromise, bark beetle is now fought in the expansion area.

Pfaueninsel (“Peacock Island”) is an island in the River Havel situated in Berlin-Wannsee, in southwestern Berlin, near the border with Potsdam and Brandenburg. The island is part of the Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and BerlinUNESCO World Heritage Site and a popular destination for day-trippers. Pfaueninsel is also a nature reserve in accordance with the EU Habitats Directive and a Special Protection Area for wild birds.

he island has largely retained its intended character as an idyll of nature: in addition to several free-ranging peacocks, other native and exotic birds can be found in captivity, complemented by a rich variety of flora. The entire island is designated as a nature reserve and since 1990 has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site, along with the several other castles and parks in the Potsdam/Berlin area. It can only be reached by a small ferry, but is a popular tourist destination. It is administered by the Stiftung Preußische Schlösser und Gärten (SPG).

The Harz National Park is a nature reserve in the German federal states of Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt. It comprises large portions of the western Harz mountain range, extending from Herzberg and Bad Lauterberg at the southern edge to Bad Harzburg and Ilsenburg on the northern slopes. 95% of the area is covered with forests, mainly withspruce and beech woods, including several bogs, granite rocks and creeks. The park is part of the Natura 2000network of the European Union.

Rare animals of the Harz National Park include the Dipper, the Black Stork,Peregrine Falcon, the European Wildcat and especially the Eurasian Lynx. The last lynx in the Harz Mountains had been shot in 1818, but in 1999 a project for reintroducing was established. Since 2002 several wild lynxes gave birth. An attempt to return the Capercaillie (Auerhuhn) however did not succeed.

All information about Wiki Loves Earth in Deutschland you can find here.

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Ghanaian team of  Wiki Loves Earth international photo contest has decided to continue acceptance of photos up to June 30, 2014. So, all participants who want to take part in it have a chance to upload their works during this month.

The contest started May 1, 2014. During this time we received 540 beautiful photos.

Terms of participation are samr for all countries. Only sites of natural heritage can be different. In Ghana there are:

• National Parks
• Forest Reserves
• Protected areas
• Beaches
• Mountains
• Caves
• Waterfalls
• Rivers, Lagoons, Ponds and lakes

 Mole National Park is Ghana‘s largest wildlife refuge. The park is located in northwest Ghana on grassland savanna and riparianecosystems at an elevation of 150 m, with sharp escarpment forming the southern boundary of the park. The park’s entrance is reached through the nearby town of Larabanga. The Lovi and Mole Rivers are ephemeral rivers flowing through the park, leaving behind only drinking holes during the long dry season. This area of Ghana receives over 1000 mm per year of rainfall. A long-term study has been done on Mole National Park to understand the impact of human hunters on the animals in the preserve.

The Bui National Park is found in Ghana. It was established in 1971. This site is 1820 km². The reserve is notable for its Hippopotamuspopulation in the Black Volta. The endangered black and white colobus monkey and a variety of antelopes and birds are also present. Part of the park will be inundated by the reservoir of the Bui Dam, which has been under construction since 2009. The filling of the reservoir is expected to begin in 2011.

Digya National Park is the second largest national park and the oldest protected area in Ghana. It is located in the Brong-Ahafo Region. Digya National Park was created in 1900 as a protected area, the first in Ghana. The park is home to at least six primate species and elephants belonging to some of the less studied species in Africa. The elephant population in the park is the second largest in Ghana. There are also manatees and clawless otters in arms of Lake Volta that extend into Digya National Park. More than 236 species of birds live in the park. This park is the only wildlife territory in Ghana to border on Lake Volta, the largest man-made body of water in the country.

Kakum National Park, located in the coastal environs of the Central Region of Ghana. The uniqueness of this park lies in the fact that it was established at the initiative of the local people and not by the State Department of wildlife who are responsible for wildlife preservation in Ghana.The most notable endangered species of fauna in the park are Diana monkey, giant bongo antelope, yellow-backed duiker andAfrican elephant. It is also an Important Bird Area recognized by the Bird Life International with the bird area fully overlapping the park area. The bird inventory confirmed 266 species in the park, including eight species of global conservation concern. One of these species of concern is the white-breasted guineafowl. Nine species of hornbill and the African grey parrot have been recorded. It is very rich in butterflies as well, and a new species was discovered in 1993. As of 2012, the densest population of forest elephants in Ghana is located in Kakum.

Bia National Park is a national park in the Western Region of Ghana. It is also a biosphere reserve with a 563 square kilometer resource reserve. It has some of Ghana’s last remnants of relatively untouched forest complete with its full diversity of wildlife. Some of the tallest trees left in West Africa are found in this national park.

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Algeria is the only country that started the contest on June 1 (as you remember Germany, Ghana, India and The Netherlands have just continued it from May to June).

Algeria is a land of contrasts. Look as beautiful are its mountains, lakes, desert and green oases!

Algerian land is rich with national parks, nature reserves and Ramsar sites.

52 photos were already uploaded with beautiful mountains, snow peaks, sand dunes and amazing lakes.

Make photos there and upload them to the Wikimedia Commons.

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