Hollow rear and front cow pits
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Hollow rear and front cow pits
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 Hohl Hinterer Kuhgraben, eastern part of the southwest |
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| location | south of Otzberg - Lengfeld , Darmstadt-Dieburg district , Hesse | |
| surface | 3.8943 ha total area | |
| Geographical location | 49 ° 50 ' N , 8 ° 54' E | |
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| Setup date | May 27, 1959 | |
| particularities | related to the natural monument "Extension of the rear cow ditch" | |
The caves "Hinterer and fronter Kuhgraben" are a large natural monument in the municipality of Otzberg , in the districts of Lengfeld and Nieder-Klingen , in the district of Darmstadt-Dieburg , southern Hesse. The natural monument forms a unit with the hollow natural monument "extension of the rear cow ditch" .
The loess cave "Hinterer und vorderer Kuhgraben" and the "Extension Hinterer Kuhgraben" were protected by ordinance of May 27, 1959 as geological natural monuments and bird protection trees.
location
The natural monuments are located south of Lengfeld on the lower northwest slope of the Otzberg . The "Hintere Kuhgraben" extends from the Lengfeld water reservoir a good 600 meters down to the west. The smaller "Vordere Kuhgraben" lies south of it in the Feldmark and drops to about 180 meters in a west-northwest direction. The "extension of the rear cow ditch" stretches from the Lengfeld water reservoir over a length of about 320 meters south-southeast on the slope of the Otzberg.
description
The cow ditches are dry valleys cut deep into the loess . The lower red sandstone sometimes occurs on the slope zones under the loess cover . In the far west there are Pliocene clays . There are several spring horizons in the area. The loess gorges are overgrown with deciduous trees (especially common oak , hornbeam , common ash , bird cherry , willow and apple, pear and cherry trees) and various types of shrub. The herb layer consists mainly of forest, hedge and fringing plants; numerous autumn crops can be found on a meadow orchard . Genuine mother and son is named as a specialty .
The "extension of the rear cow ditch" is a shallow loess ditch. In the lower part it is overgrown with English oak, pear and cherry trees, in the upper part with various shrubs such as hawthorn and blackthorn .
50 species of birds breed in the area, including the endangered species small woodpecker , wryneck , red- backed red-backed killer , honey buzzard and turtledove . Smaller mammals such as the field shrew , hedgehog , dormouse , ermine and weasel live here, as well as badgers , red fox , deer and hare . Even lizards , slow worms and three amphibian species were detected. The diverse terrain provides habitat for numerous species of invertebrates.
Wooded loess gorge "Hinterer Kuhgraben" from the south
"Hinterer Kuhgraben", trees in the gorge
"Vorderer Kuhgraben" from the east
"Extension of the rear cow ditch", trees in the loess ditch
“Extension of the rear cow ditch” towards Otzberg
The 12th BioTopTour of the Darmstadt-Dieburg district leads along the natural monument.
Impairments
The natural monument "Hinterer Kuhgraben" was repeatedly affected by wild debris deposits. Numerous trees have died because their trunk base was spilled. In the 1990s, the Loess Gorge was discussed as an interim storage facility for used tires, but these plans have since been abandoned. Until 2009, an unauthorized barbecue area at the Kuhgraben was used for public barbecues of the local associations, this has now been completely dismantled.
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e Horst Bathon, Georg Wittenberger: The natural monuments of the Darmstadt-Dieburg district with biotope tours. 2nd expanded and completely revised edition. In: District Committee of the Darmstadt-Dieburg District - Lower Nature Conservation Authority, Darmstadt (Hrsg.): Series of publications, Darmstadt-Dieburg district. 2016, ISBN 978-3-00-050136-4 , pp. 105-110.
- ^ Ordinance on the safeguarding of natural monuments in the Dieburg district. (PDF; 26 kB) The district committee of the Dieburg district, May 27, 1959, accessed on June 4, 2020 .
- ↑ "Environmental Protection" map. BürgerGIS district of Darmstadt-Dieburg. Darmstadt-Dieburg district, accessed on June 4, 2020 .
- ↑ a b 12. BioTopTour: On the basalt cone of the Otzberg. Darmstadt-Dieburg district, 2004, accessed on July 30, 2020 .
