Even heads and wiping

Even heads and wiping IUCN Category IV - Habitat / Species Management Area
Between Creuzburg and Mihla, the Werra are lined with shell limestone walls over a hundred meters high, such as the Ebenau heads here.
location	North of Creuzburg in the Wartburg district in western Thuringia .
surface	79.7 hectares
Identifier	TH 64
WDPA ID	162830
Geographical location	51 ° 4 '  N , 10 ° 15'  E Coordinates: 51 ° 3 '44 "  N , 10 ° 15' 3"  E
Sea level	from 210  m to 376  m
Setup date	1996 (again with an enlarged area in 2017)
particularities	Special protection as a nature reserve and part of a flora-fauna habitat area .

Ebenauer Köpfe und Wisch is the name of a nature reserve in the Wartburg district of Thuringia . It extends from Creuzburg along the Werra to Ebenau . The landscape is shaped by the rugged limestone cliffs of the steep Werra slope . Their interwoven complexes of grasslands , pioneer and rock societies, juniper heaths and near-natural forests with pines , beeches , sessile oaks and hornbeams are considered valuable from a nature conservation point of view. The arid biotopes in this area have become a habitat for rare plants and animals such as orchids , bats and insects and are particularly protected when they were designated as a nature reserve in 1996. The protected area is considered to be an important networking element in the Werra Valley biotope network .

location

The Ebenauer Köpfe are north of Creuzburg, in the northwest of the Wartburg district, on the outskirts of Thuringia and northern Hesse . They rise to the left of the Werra to a height of 376  m . To the south, the state road 1017 to Mihla limits the protected area. Administratively , the protected area belongs to the Creuzburg Office , a city that was created through the merger of Creuzburg with the communities of Ebenshausen and Mihla. The office of Creuzburg is the seat of the administrative community Hainich-Werratal .

According to the natural spatial structure of the State Institute for Environment and Geology within Thuringia , the protected area belongs to the “ Werrabergland-Hörselberge ” unit of the “Muschelkalk Platten und -Bergländer” landscape. In the west, the sub-units "Northern Ringgau ", " Netra - Ifta Valley" and "Southern Ringgau" border the natural spatial main unit " Northwestern edge plate of the Thuringian Basin ". The reserve is located entirely in the Eichsfeld-Hainich-Werratal Nature Park .

geology

Rock section in the eastern area of ​​the nature reserve.

In the so-called Creuzburg Werra Gorge, the river between Creuzburg and Treffurt dug into the shell limestone massif there, creating a 150 to 170 m deep canyon-like valley in which tightly curved valley meanders with steep, rocky collapsing slopes and flatter sliding slopes have formed . In the area of ​​the Ebenauer Köpfe and the neighboring Nordmannssteine in particular , steep edges emerged , which are subdivided by gullies and rock faces ten to fifteen meters high. Geologically, formations from Upper to Lower Muschelkalk form the starting rock for the steep slopes, which are often pronounced in a vertical shape. The Werraprallhang in the protected area has a height of over 110 m and slopes of 30 ° to 40 °. On the slopes there are wavy limestone banks of the Lower Muschelkalk with embedded hard parts, which were clearly visible as parallel rock ledges and which form narrow block heaps at the foot of the slopes. Above the steep slopes there is a flatter upper slope, which consists of Middle Muschelkalk . In this upper slope area, clayey-stony loam soils with loess influence are widespread, in which mountain loam and rock rendzina have developed. In the northwest there is still a small area of ​​the border dolomite of the Lower Keuper .

The sanctuary

The Middle Werra Valley is assigned to the “Northwest Thuringian Heights” climatic area within the “Central German mountain and hill country climate”, which has a subatlantic tint. The major small climatic differences are considered to be a special peculiarity of the protected area : the south-facing locations of the steep slopes are exposed to extremely dry conditions with high levels of solar radiation, while the wooded areas, some of which are oriented to the north, are characterized by a humid, cooler climate.

vegetation

Semi-arid grassland with cowslips on the plateau of the Ebenauer Köpfe.

In the nature reserve there are sequences of biotopes that are typical for sites on shell limestone and are considered worthy of protection. Phytosociological they are the companies " mountain leek - melica ciliata -Flur", " Fiederzwenken - anthericum -Halbtrockenrasen", " blood cranesbill - Hirsch Wurz hem" and " Enzian - Schiller grass assigned calcareous grasslands". Large areas are covered by a light "pinnacle pine forest" in which a thick layer of shrubbery has partially developed.

The flora is rich in orchids. In addition to large stocks of skullcap and purple orchid , the botanical treasures include greenish forest hyacinth , stately orchid and small spider orchid , which has its only natural occurrence here in Thuringia.

The special features also include the mosses of the dry, warm locations on the sunlit limestone banks, with the hollow-leaved sleeping moss, the only place where it is found in western Thuringia in the protected area, and the Mediterranean mosses of the rock crevices. The more than fifty lichens and the two lichens- dwelling fungi that have been detected in the nature reserve so far are also of importance .

The Ebenau heads show a strong open country character . The mosaic-like composed biotope complexes of rock societies, poor grasslands and ruderal meadows are not stable vegetation stages . From the edge areas they are often in succession to the pioneer and dry forest . According to the knowledge of nature conservationists, the areas used in earlier times as orchards, vineyards or shaft drifts can only be preserved in their diversity if extensive cultivation or constant care takes place.

fauna

Bats use the large number of food and roosts. With the great mouse-eared mouse and the little horseshoe bat , two strictly protected species live in the area. They belong to the genera that are considered to be of community interest and for which special protection areas must be designated according to Annex II of the Habitats Directive . The great mouse-eared bat, the largest native bat, is still found in Thuringia in almost all natural areas that are favored by heat and are rich in structure. Here it has one of its largest collections in Germany. The occurrence of the lesser horseshoe bat in the area was not known for a long time. In the 2000s, a nursery roost was found in one of the natural caves that are located in the rock faces of the Ebenau Heads. The smallest European horseshoe bat species, unmistakable by its conspicuous nose attachment, is very rare and highly endangered by the changes in its habitat. Thuringia, however, has by far the largest populations in Germany with around two thousand animals, which is why regional nature conservation has the essential task of preserving the population.

In 1992, thirty-five species of butterflies were observed during the examinations for the assessment of the nature reserve's worthiness of protection . Among them were the common blue ant , wood devil , buckthorn hairstreak and comma thick-headed butterflies, endangered by the Red List species . The nocturnal butterfly fauna are also well represented. Between 1979 and 2000, over one hundred different owl butterflies , over one hundred tensioners and around fifty species of spiders and swarmers were found. An inventory of small butterflies the early 2000s yielded some thirty Artnachweise, among them were five borer species, which were first found in Thuringia. The findings of several species of grasshopper, including the red-winged snare insect , forest cricket and red mace insect, as well as the mountain cicada and longhorn beetle , suggest that other special species of other groups of insects live here.

Among the bird species observed, the eagle owl and red kite are two on the red list of endangered species. The rocky areas are considered an ideal breeding habitat for the largest native owl species.

Protected position

Nature reserve

After a temporary seizure from 1990 to 1995, the Ebenau heads were declared a nature reserve by ordinance of April 12, 1996 by the Thuringian State Administration Office . With the designation, a 45.7 hectare complex of arid biotopes should be preserved, which has become a habitat for rare plants and animals. The populations of orchids, bats and insects in particular are also seen as significant nationwide.

In November 2016, a draft ordinance was drawn up to expand the nature reserve. The slopes of the “Wisch” and “Hahn” corridors, which are characterized by a mosaic of lime-lime lawns with warmth-loving plants, natural forests with pines, beeches, sessile oaks and hornbeams, bushes and some fruit trees, should complement the reserve. The small playground with a hiker's hut and benches on the mop was not included in the protected area so that it can be used in the future without many restrictions. After a phase of weighing up objections, an ordinance of November 13, 2017 increased the area of ​​the protected area to 79.7 hectares and renamed the nature reserve “Ebenauer Köpf und Wisch”. The newly designated area is outside the FFH area. The protected area has the Thuringia internal identifier 64 and the WDPA code 162830.

Flora-fauna habitat area

View to the east over the Ebenauer Köpfe and the Werra Valley to the Nordmannssteins.

Together with the neighboring nature reserves “Klosterholz and Nordmannssteine” and “ Lienig ”, the Ebenauer Köpfe were proposed by the Thuringian Ministry of the Environment as a flora-fauna habitat area in September 2000 and reported to the EU Commission via the Federal Environment Ministry. After confirmation of inclusion in the cross-border nature reserve network Natura 2000 , legal implementation followed with the “Thuringian Natura 2000 Conservation Objectives Ordinance” of May 29, 2008. The three-part FFH area called “Creuzburger Werratal-Hänge” has the Number 35, the European area number 4927-303 and the WDPA code 555520295. The 147 hectare FFH area is located in the districts of the city of Creuzburg in the south-west and the Buchenau district of the Mihla community in the north-east of the Hainich-Werratal administrative community.

The course of the Werra river below the Ebenauer Köpf belongs to the flora-fauna habitat area "Werra to Treffurt with tributaries". The 2,260 hectare protected area has the European area number 5328-305 and the Thuringian number 111. With many partial areas, it extends along the Werra from the source areas to the state border at Treffurt. Conservation objectives are, among other habitats of threatened species of fish brook lamprey and West bullhead , the otter , the yellow-bellied toad and crested newt , and the bat species with lesser horseshoe bat, Bechstein , Pug and pond bat to protect from harmful influences. Mud banks and the flooding aquatic vegetation are also particularly protected .

Tourist development

View from "Wisch" over Creuzburg and the southwestern part of the "Eichsfeld-Hainich-Werratal" nature park to the Wartburg and the northern mountains of the Thuringian Forest.

Creuzburg and Mihla are considered to be regionally important tourist destinations with great potential for forms of gentle tourism such as hiking, cycling and water sports. Several day hikes and themed trails for day tourists and day trippers as well as long-distance hiking trails and pilgrimage routes for active vacationers are offered in the area.

• The nature trail "Muschelkalkhang bei Creuzburg" leads through the protected area with an "L" as a sign . On the approximately four-kilometer route, several information boards provide information about ecological, geological and natural history issues as well as measures to preserve the cultural landscape.
• On the way, outside the protected area, the Gottesackerkirche is located in the middle of an old cemetery above the city. It houses a show on the Eichsfeld-Hainich-Werratal Nature Park. The exhibition, which was newly opened in 2017, provides information about the particular features of the landscape as well as the work and tasks of the nature park.
• The Gottesackerkirche is also the end point of the nature park hiking trail "Leine-Werra", which bears the seal of approval of the German Hiking Association . The almost one hundred kilometer long path, marked with a red square, leads on natural and marked paths from Heilbad Heiligenstadt to Creuzburg.
• The " Hainichlandweg ", a 126-kilometer circular hiking trail through the districts of Wartburgkreis and Unstrut-Hainich-Kreis , with a beech leaf and a red dot in a white square as a signpost, runs through the protected area as well as the
• "Lutherweg" on its stage from Creuzburg to Scherbda . His waymarking is a green "L" in Gothic script .
• The open area on the 363  m high Wisch in the nature reserve offers a panoramic view of the mountains of the northwestern Thuringian Forest and the Werra Valley. The top of the “ local mountain ” of Creuzburg, on which there is a hiker's hut and benches, was not included in the protected area.
• The Werra Valley Cycle Path runs to the newly built Werra bridge near Buchenau on two alternative routes to the right and left of the Werra and provides good views of the slopes.

literature

• Holm Wenzel, Werner Westhus, Frank Fritzlar, Rainer Haupt and Walter Hiekel: The nature reserves of Thuringia . Weissdorn-Verlag, Jena 2012, ISBN 978-3-936055-66-5 .
• Engineering Office for Nature Conservation and Landscape Planning (INL): Final report on the management plan (specialist contribution open land) for the FFH area 35 "Creuzburger Werratal-Hänge" (DE 4927-303) . Client: Thuringian State Institute for Environment and Geology, Drei Gleichen November 2017.

Web links

Commons : Ebenauer Köpf  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g} Holm Wenzel, Werner Westhus, Frank Fritzlar, Rainer Haupt and Walter Hiekel: The nature reserves of Thuringia. P. 178 f.
2. ↑ The natural areas of Thuringia. In: Website of the Thuringian State Institute for Environment and Geology ; accessed on July 14, 2020.
3. ↑ Classification of natural areas according to Otto Klausing. In: Environmental Atlas Hessen; accessed on July 14, 2020.
4. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Engineering Office for Nature Conservation and Landscape Planning (INL): Final report on the management plan for the FFH area “Creuzburger Werratal slopes”.
5. ↑ List of the species occurring in Germany in Appendix II of the Fauna Flora Habitat Directive. In: Germany's nature ; accessed on July 14, 2020.
6. ↑ Thuringian Ordinance on the "Ebenauer Köpf" nature reserve of April 2, 1996. In: Thüringer Staatsanzeiger Edition: No. 17/1996 of April 29, 1996, pp. 936-938.
7. ↑ Thuringian Ordinance on the "Ebenauer Köpf und Wisch" nature reserve of November 13, 2017. In: Thuringian State Gazette No. 50/2017 of December 11, 2017, p. 3369 f.
8. ↑ "Ebenauer Heads and Wiping". In: World Database on Protected Areas ; accessed on July 14, 2020.
9. ^ Ordinance on the establishment of European bird sanctuaries, protected objects and conservation goals of May 29, 2008 In: Online-Verwaltung Thüringen ; accessed on July 14, 2020.
10. ↑ "Creuzburger Werratal slopes". In the world database on protected areas ; accessed on July 14, 2020.
11. ↑ Profile of the FFH area 4927-303 "Creuzburger Werratal-Hängel". In: Website of the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN); accessed on July 14, 2020.
12. ↑ "Werra to Treffurt with tributaries". In: World Database on Protected Areas ; accessed on July 14, 2020.
13. ↑ Profile of the FFH area 5328-305 “Werra to Treffurt with tributaries”. In: Website of the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN); accessed on July 14, 2020.