Padeim

The Padeim in the Tilsit-Ragnit district was a silting pond with great biodiversity .

Location and origin

The Padeim was a residual waters from Urdelta of Memel , which after the embankment had formed the left bank of Memel splitter to Kalwen. From the splinter to the Kaltecken enclave there was a small elevation 12 to 15 meters high. The Padeim lay on the last third of this ridge. Embedded by embankments 2 to 3 m high , it was about 2000 m long and 40–60 m wide. The water area was about 5 hectares , the average depth a good 2 meters. The east and west ends of the pond had a connecting ditch, which flowed at a very slow speed from cold corners over a few cross ditches to the Grace near Preußenhof. The grace resembled the padeim.

In the mid-1930s, the water level of the Padeim was lowered by 50 centimeters as a result of a supraregional drainage program . In the eastern part of the pond in particular, reed plants were so dense that barges could hardly get through. On the north side of the padeim was a road with individual farmsteads . Only a beaten path led to the bathing area on the south bank.

flora

One third of the padeim was covered with aquatic plants, mainly yellow and white water lilies, as well as crab claws , sweet flag , reed , rushes and horsetail . There were also yellow and blue swamp irises , marigolds and forget-me-nots . The rarest grasses and plants grew on the embankments , including trembling grass , cuckoo's light carnations , cottongrass , orchid , moss , moss , fever clover and white root , and real weeping willows on the banks .

fauna

The world of small animals corresponded to the abundance of plants . Among the insects , the dragonflies stood out, especially the shiny emerald dragonflies , the moss damsel and the somewhat larger western wedge damsel . In addition to ducks and grebes , songbirds lived in the reed beds. The most common were bitterns , reed warblers and wagtails .

Among the fish were roach , rudd , crucian carp , bream , perch , pike , tench , eel . On the muddy river bottom many lived Great Pond mussels .

source

Alfred Pipien: The Padeim - a natural paradise on the Memel . Tilsiter Rundbrief 17 (1987/88), pp. 56-58