Donaualtwasser Schnödhof (nature reserve)

Resting whooper swan family with last year's young birds in a winter field right on the border of the Donaualtwasser Schnödhof nature reserve

48.725698 11.002632Coordinates: 48 ° 43 ′ 33 ″ N , 11 ° 0 ′ 9 ″ E

Bavaria

The nature reserve Donaualtwasser Schnödhof is located south of the bird sanctuary Bertoldsheimer Stausee across districts on the border of the Bavarian administrative districts Upper Bavaria and Swabia . With a total area of 82.46 ha, the Upper Bavarian district of Neuburg-Schrobenhausen has a share of 58.62 ha and the Swabian Donau-Ries a sub-area of 23.84 ha. The protection took place on April 2, 1994.

It is a large oxbow lake and bank area on the Danube with distinctive remains of alluvial forest and wide silting zones that create a changing milieu of the valley floor between moisture penetration and drying out. The area is part of the FFH area identification number 7232-301 “Danube with Jura slopes between Leitheim and Neuburg” and the SPA area 7231-471 “Donauauen between the mouth of the Lech and Ingolstadt”. Furthermore, the old Danube river Schnödhof is also part of the Ramsar area Lech-Donau-Winkel and is therefore also subject to the European species protection program Natura 2000 . There are strict entry bans at certain times of the year.

The northern border is formed by several old dredging lakes, which are looked after by the Rennertshofen fishing association and are largely natural. In the east, the nature reserve borders on the state road ND 11, which leads northwards directly to the Bertoldsheimer Danube barrier with an important European bird sanctuary and is one of the oldest Ramsar areas in Germany. In the south and west there are agricultural arable land, which in winter is often used as pasture by migrating and persistent ducks such as gray geese , whooper and pygmy swans of the nature reserve and the nearby Bertoldsheim barrage.