Servants
| Servants | ||
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| Waters | Weser (mouth) / North Sea | |
| Geographical location | 53 ° 49 '46 " N , 8 ° 21' 33" E | |
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The Knechtsands are several sandbanks in front of the Weser and Elbe confluences ( Elbe-Weser triangle ) in the easternmost Wadden Sea in Lower Saxony .
Location of the sandbanks and high sands
The largest sand bank is the Great Knechtsand ; it lies between the islands of Mellum (which is 16 km southwest) and Neuwerk (11 km northeast).
The central area of the sandbank is formed by the Hohe Knechtsand , a high sand that used to be an island . The high sand is 11 km west of the Berensch district of Cuxhaven , the closest mainland ( Land Wursten ). The Hohe Knechtsand measures 2.5 km in an east-west direction and is between 600 m in the east and 1.6 km in the west. The area covered by the dry area is about 2.6 km².
The Große Knechtsand is next to the island Trischen one of the most important moulting areas of the shelduck , and next to Trischen, Norderoog and Minsener Oog one of the largest and most consistent colonies of the sandwich tern . In addition, eider ducks and seals numerous.
East of the Great servant sand lies the Wadden area Spiekaer Barre. The north and south are creeks Westertill / Ostertill and Robins Balje limiting. The Wurster Watt lies further south-east off the coast of the state of Wursten.
About 2 km northwest of the Great Knecht sand are sandbanks Small Großer Knechtsand ( 53 ° 50 ' N , 8 ° 18' O ).
history
In order to enable the population of Heligoland to return to their homeland, the then Federal Chancellor Adenauer offered the area around the Großer Knechtsand as a substitute area for military exercises. From 1952, instead of Heligoland, the area was used as a target for the British Royal Air Force for practice bombing of high-explosive and incendiary bombs . Just a few years later, however, a growing awareness of environmental protection became noticeable, and the contract, which expired in 1957, was not extended. This important resting and moulting area for shelduck and other sea birds was designated in 1957 as the largest German nature reserve until then . Since 1986 the area has been part of the Lower Saxony Wadden Sea National Park as a strictly protected quiet zone .
Energy use
RWE Dea is planning to drill a test well for crude oil immediately northeast of the Knechtsände area, 8 km south of the island of Neuwerk, and submitted the applications for this in November 2011. The Lower Saxony Ministry of Economics supports these plans as this would create jobs. The spokeswoman for the ministry does not see the fact that the Wadden Sea has only recently been designated a Unesco World Heritage Site as a problem, since the area has been excluded as an "exclave".
On the sea side of the Knechtsände, the Nordergrund offshore wind farm was approved in 2008 .
Myths and legends
- Servant sand
literature
- Ernst Andreas Friedrich : Natural monuments of Lower Saxony . Landbuch-Verlag, Hannover 1980, ISBN 3-7842-0227-6 (272 pages).
- Anna-Katharina Wöbse: The Knechtsand - a place of remembrance in motion . In: Frank Uekötter (Ed.): Ecological places of remembrance . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht Verlag, Göttingen 2014, ISBN 3-525-30051-4 , pp. 29–49 (334 pages, limited preview in Google Book Search [accessed August 7, 2020]).
Web links
- Bomb target (PDF; 313 kB)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Silke Looden: Oil company wants to drill in the Wadden Sea. In: Website Weser Kurier . November 16, 2011, accessed August 7, 2020 .
- ^ Nordergrund - offshore wind from Lower Saxony. About the project. In: Website Tennet. Retrieved August 7, 2020 .
- ↑ The sagas of the country Wursten - Knechtsand on YouTube , accessed on August 7, 2020.