The Prosiana Kaolin Quarry. Winter Scenery

There are places on earth that draw you with a magic force and enchant at any time of year. Hikes to the abandoned Prosiana kaolin quarry in the summer and autumn period left unforgettable impressions. But the artist-winter transforms nature with special magic, and one wants to see its tricks after the noticeable frosts and the snowfalls that have been rare in recent years.

The flooded quarry greets the traveller in all its winter beauty. A fifteen-degree frost and a February breeze, playing with the water's surface, have turned the reservoir into a shining mirror in a lacy frame of ice.

 

Prosiana, Dnipropetrovsk region. The kaolin quarry

An enchanted gentle rippling has frozen in whimsical curves on the blue smoothness of the water.

 

In the summer heat one wants to plunge into the ultramarine cool, and in winter figure skaters' performances would look splendid on this sparkling turquoise arena.

 

Along the shore the crystal slush has gathered in a hummocky heap, forming magical patterns.

 

At the quarry the mining has stopped and the machinery has fallen still, but the clay pit cannot be called entirely lifeless.

 

On seeing the traveller, the gulls, the feathered inhabitants of the pit, took fright, and the leader of the flock, with a piercing cry, flew round the borders of the bird kingdom. On the little island the silvery darlings answered in a creaking chorus, expressing their displeasure at the disturber of the idyll. The boldest flew up to the edge of the ice in expectation of something edible, but I did not have many treats for the hungry birds. Where they find provisions in the cold season is a mystery; in summer it is clear -- there are fish, and sunflowers ripen in the field.

 

But the island-dwellers can undoubtedly fall prey to predators. On the snow-covered shore the four-legged natives, who had come close to the cliff, had left their tracks.

 

In recent years hares, foxes, wolves, roe deer and wild boars have taken a liking to the abandoned quarry. In the warm season the deserted place teems with creeping reptiles. The animals consider the expanses of the "Vershyna" reserve, created on the site of the worked-out quarry, their domain.

 

Hunting is forbidden, the place is wild, and the representatives of the fauna are seizing ever more of this latifundium with its wooded hills, ravines and hollows.

 

February let loose with frosts, but the sun climbs ever higher, and by noon on the southern slopes of the spoil heaps the white blankets had vanished, turning the top layer of soil into a soggy liquid. This time I did not manage to conquer Prosiana's Chomolungma. In summer the loose clay collapsed under every step, and now the thawed surface simply would not let me climb to the highest peak.

 

In winter the drawn-out outlines of the mountain ridge, overgrown with ravine forest, are clearly visible. The foliage does not cover the hollows and dips, and the light snow underlines the ridge's relief.

 

Taking a sample of the bedrock as a keepsake of my visit to the largest kaolin deposit also did not work out -- the frost had firmly chained the white outcrops.

Coordinates: 48°5'35"N 36°19'15"E