Danube Delta, Romania

The Danube Delta is Europe's best-preserved river delta and the continent's second-largest, behind the Volga Delta. The Danube Delta, which is located where the Danube River flows into the Black Sea, is mostly in Romania (Tulcea County), with a tiny portion in Ukraine (Odesa Oblast). 3,446 km2 of its 4,152 square kilometers (1,603 square miles) of surface area are in Romania. The Danube Delta's overall area is 5,165 km2 (1,994 sq mi), including the lagoons of Razim and Sinoe, which are situated south of the main delta. The delta proper and the Razim–Sinoe lagoon complex are related both geologically and ecologically; the entire area is recognized as a World Heritage Site.One of the driest and sunniest areas of Romania is thought to be the Danube Delta.The average annual temperature is 11°C (January is -1°C and July is 22°C), and the average amount of precipitation is 400–300 mm.Large forests of willow trees once covered the hard terrain of the delta, but they have nearly all been felled and replaced by Canadian poplars. White poplar (Populus alba) and small groves of willow trees (Salix alba, Salix fragilis, Salix purpurea, Salix pentandra, and Salix triandra) are still present on the riverbanks that have been preserved in their original state. Along the Danube's arms and larger channels, the willow trees occasionally create corridors.Mixed forests of oaks (Quercus robur and Quercus pedunculiflora) and other trees (Fraxinus pallisiae, Ulmus foliaceae, Populus tremula), shrubs (Prunus spinosa, Crataegus monogyna, Rosa canina, and Berberis vulgaris, among others), and vines (Vitis sylvestris, Hedera helix, Humulus lupulus, and Periploca graeca, which reaches up to 25m) coexist on the levees of Letea and Caraorman. Particularly in the hollows between the sand dunes, in little groves known as hasmace, these exotic-looking forests thrive on the Letea levee. The Eurasian eagle owl (Bubo bubo), osprey (Pandion haliaetus), and meadow viper (Vipera ursinii) are among the fauna of this area.