AT A GLANCE
Why go?
Labutí rybník — the Swan Pond — sits just outside the small West Bohemian town of Planá u Mariánských Lázní, part of the Anenské rybníky nature reserve long known among birdwatchers for its remarkable wetland biodiversity. Fed by the clear waters of the Hamerský potok, the pond has earned a reputation as one of the most beautiful in the entire Planá region.↗↗
What makes this pond special is its extraordinary birdlife. In late summer, dozens of mute swans from the surrounding countryside converge here for a spectacular gathering — the sight that gave the pond its name. Spring draws ornithologists hoping to spot rare visitors such as Nile geese, laughing gulls, and even white-tailed eagles overhead.↗↗
A Living Bird Sanctuary
The pond's story is inseparable from the Anenské rybníky reserve, originally established in 1933 by the Ministry of Education to protect a crucial bird refuge in the flat farmland south of Planá. Though the reserve's formal status has shifted over the decades, the ecological value of these ponds endures. A 2010 account describes an afternoon at the water's edge that reads like a nature document: white herons standing motionless among granite boulders on the half-drained bottom, a lone great cormorant surveying the shallows, wild ducks and gulls raucously calling, while hooded grebes, great crested grebes, and coots quietly skim the surface. A red kite passed overhead with its unmistakable forked tail.
