Izluchina Tract

In the middle of the 20th century the flora of this area was explored by Alexey Skvortsov (Skvortsov, 1951) and then by Victor Danilov (1987, 1988). The exploration of the natural monument and nearby territories was carried out in 2001 and 2004. The left-bank part includes a backland leading to a high, and then very steep, section of the bend of the Osetr river with outcrop of limestone, which is cut by the gully. The geological outcrop is composed of limestones of the Alexinsky and Mikhailovsky bedrocks of lower carbon. The right-bank part is more sloping, in the form of a stony-gravelly slope. Soil on the most part of the protected area is chernozem, on steep slopes there are no soils because bedrocks, limestones, are outcropped. The prevailing type of vegetation is meadow-steppe on gentle sections of slopes and calcicole groups on steep sections of slopes. Here grow a number of southern steppe species, for which this place is the most northern point of their natural vegetation. There are also some small areas of forest vegetation. On the right bank of the Osetr river occurs an oak forest of seed origin without understory with steppe herbage. On the steep slopes of the left bank occur sections of birch forest and broad-leaved forest (oak, linden, Norway maple, field maple, warty-barked spindle-tree, common buckthorn, etc.). The floristic list includes 215 species, 3 of them are listed in the Red Book of the Russian Federation (Cotoneaster alaunicus Golits., Stipa pennata and Stipa pulcherrima) and 17 are rare in the Tula region. They are spring adonis, Italian Aster, Centaurea sumensis (Kalenicz.), branched St Bernard's-lily, Dianthus borbasii (Vandas.), Dianthus andrzejowskianus (Zapal) Kulcz.), leafless iris, milkwort Polygala sibirica L., tall gypsophila, feather grass Stipa capillata L., purple mullein, European globe flower, yellow flax, Oxytropis pilosa (L) DC, snow spiraea, Red Spire, etc. Entomofauna includes 94 species of lepidopterans and 57 species of dipteran, including those, which are listed in the IUCN Red List (Maculinea alcon (Den. et Sen.), Мaculinea telejus (Bgstr.)).