Wahner Heath
Wahner Heide (Heath)
Wahner Heide (Heath)...
... an Eldorado for photographers - in addition to the large number of animal and plant species, you will find dry grass, heathland, pine and oak forests, small heather bogs, bog or alluvial forests here.
The Wahner Heide in the narrower sense, as it is usually recorded on maps, is the approximately 47 km² southwestern part, which is separated by the A3 and ends in the southeast at the Aue of the Agger.
As early as 1931, the heath was given the status of a nature reserve. It was included in the Natura 2000 catalog as part of the European Fauna-Flora-Habitat Directive. It is also recognized as a bird sanctuary
The peculiarity of the Wahner Heide consists in a very small-scale alternation of very dry (heather) and very humid biotopes (moors). After the Ice Age, sands were blown here to form dunes. Despite sufficient rainfall, there is a lack of water here because the water seeps away quickly. On these dunes you can find dry land with drought and warmth-loving species: dry grass, heather, pine and oak forests.
In the depressions, on the other hand, the water collects and here small heather bogs, bog or alluvial forests have been preserved. In addition, there are bodies of water such as the quartzite stone lake, the pond on the flies mountain, the clay pit or the crown pond.
Because of the fragmented nature of the habitats, the Wahner Heide has a great diversity of species. Around 700 animal and plant species in the Wahner Heide are on the Red List of Endangered Species.
