Speichererkoog Dithmarschen

Coordinates: 54 ° 5 '44.3 "  N , 8 ° 57' 49.1"  E

Speichererkoog Dithmarschen​

Schleswig-Holstein

Former creek, now a pure freshwater pool. In the background the new sea dike.

Typical breeding bird: the avocet

Typical wintering bird: barnacle goose

The Speichererkoog Dithmarschen is a Koog on the Meldorfer Bucht in western Dithmarschen . With the completion of the complete dike in 1979, he is currently the youngest Koog in Dithmarschen. It serves primarily as a nature reserve and recreational area - a smaller part is released for agricultural use. It covers a total of almost 5,000 hectares. Around 360 hectares serve as reservoirs for the receiving water to drain the large hinterland. This pool is also used by many surfers.

Emergence

The Koog was diked as a result of the storm surge of 1962 . With this flood, dikes proved to be too low or too weak. The Speichererkoog shortened the dyke line from 30 to 15 kilometers, which made maintenance of the dykes much easier. On the other hand, it had already been shown beforehand that the drainage from the adjacent areas no longer worked during a storm surge . There were regular floods inland because the water that ran off built up near the coast. The reservoir can absorb this water. Among other things, the Koog protects the Christianskoog , which had to be evacuated during the storm surges in 1962 and 1976.

tourism

The northern Speichererkoog was designed for leisure, nature conservation and landscape protection. The southern Speichererkoog is reserved for the Bundeswehr. Weapon tests take place there in spring and winter.

In addition to the agricultural use, especially in the landward parts of the Koog, there is a small marina with two sailing clubs, a water storage basin as a surf lake with a retreat for flora and fauna and several beaches on the current coast .

Several associations from the fields of nature conservation , windsurfing , golf, sailing , model flying , together with the communities of Elpersbüttel , Nordermeldorf, the city of Meldorf and the district of Dithmarschen, ensure that the Meldorfer Speicherkoog remains a recreational area for guests, sports enthusiasts and locals.

Several small businesses that are active in the surfing, sailing and catering sectors take care of the visitors' needs.

In the back of the Meldorfer Speicherkoog there is a model airfield which, with an area of ​​15 hectares, is one of the largest in Germany.

Nature reserves

Around 1000 hectares of salt marshes and roughly twice the area of mud flats were lost during the dike. To compensate for the loss, two nature reserves have been designated within the Koog. These are named after the arms of the tidal currents Kronenloch and Wöhrdener Loch (tributaries of the Piep ), most of which were lost due to the dike.

The area offers resting and breeding birds in particular an important refuge during the ebb and flow of the North Sea. Typical birds in Speicherkoog are Barnacle Goose , Widgeon , Curlew (winter), gray goose , redshank (use the enclosed land primarily as a resting place, but also individual breeding pairs), shelduck (about 150 breeding pairs, but above all to use birds to Koog as a resting place) , Greenshank , Dunlin (use the Koog as a resting place in autumn), oystercatchers , bluethroat (one of the largest populations in Schleswig-Holstein) and reed warbler (breeding bird, the most common breeding bird with around 300 pairs).

Wöhrdener Loch / Speichererkoog Dithmarschen

Northern area of ​​the NSG Wöhrdener Loch

In the northern part of the Koog there is the 495 hectare Wöhrdener Loch / Speichererkoog Dithmarschen . The areas are populated by a characteristic flora that occurs on the one hand on the salt marsh and on the other hand on the local meadow.

In order to preserve the habitat for typical coastal and meadow birds in the nature reserve Wöhrdener Loch and to put a stop to bush encroachment, grazing management is carried out. Part of this intervention are, on the one hand, grazing Konik horses, sheep and Galloway cattle , which are used as “natural lawnmowers”, and on the other hand, the reed vegetation is initially kept short by mowing the old reed areas by a specialist company. After that, the animals are allowed to eat away the first tasty shoots of the reeds from spring onwards and to prevent reeds from overgrowing.

In February 2020, however, seven Konik horses were found dead in the area (four foals and three mares); they died of malnutrition. The owner of the horses, the Naturschutzbund ( NABU ), denies any guilt and refers to two shepherds. The fenced-in area of ​​the wild horse does not offer enough food.

On the western edge of the Wöhrdener Loch there was an observation hut, through which one could look out over the salt marsh of the former Wöhrdener Priel with and without binoculars. It burned down on February 16, 2017.

Pictures from the Wöhrdener Loch / Speichererkoog Dithmarschen

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Kronenloch / Speichererkoog Dithmarschen

The Kronenloch / Speichererkoog Dithmarschen nature reserve set up in 1985 in the central part of the Koog is 532 hectares and is a saltwater biotope . Here the emerging vegetation develops from individual salt marsh plants to bushes with willow and sea ​​buckthorn , largely without human influence. There is therefore an absolute ban on entry. Through the construction of an observation platform and an observation hut, the outside guests get an insight into the flora and fauna. Nature conservation information signs are available to give the observer precise, detailed information on how to observe the fauna and flora.

Pictures from the Kronenloch / Speichererkoog Dithmarschen

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Landscape protection area

The area between the two nature reserves was designated as a landscape protection area with the name Speicherkoog Dithmarschen (Nordkoog) in 2006 .

Pictures from the Speichererkoog Dithmarschen (Nordkoog)

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Individual evidence

1. ↑ Modellflugverein Heide
2. ↑ Windsurfing and Kitesurfing
3. ^ Golfclub Büsum-Dithmarschen eV non-profit association
4. ↑ Kronenloch and Wöhrdener Loch / NABU National Park Information Center WATTWURM
5. ↑ WDPA: Nature reserve Wöhrdener Loch / Speichererkoog Dithmarschen (English)
6. ↑ Seven dead wild horses: who is responsible and what happens to the animals now. In: Schleswig-Holstein Zeitung (SHZ). Retrieved March 7, 2020 . 
7. ^ Meldorf: Hut in the Speichererkoog completely burned down. Brief message from Reinhard Geschke on the Boyens Medien website. Retrieved April 26, 2017.
8. ↑ WDPA: Kronenloch / Speichererkoog Dithmarschen (English)
9. ↑ WDPA: Speicherkoog Dithmarschen (Nordkoog) (English)

literature

• Deich- und Hauptsielverband Dithmarschen (Ed.): Chronicle of the Deich- und Hauptsielverband Dithmarschen , Volume II: Representation of the drainage system, receiving waters, dyke sewers and pumping stations, nature conservation and landscape management, wastewater treatment, association administration . Hemmingstedt 2008, pp. 106-117.
• Hans Michelsen: The dike of the Meldorfer Bucht . In: Verein für Dithmarscher Landeskunde (Ed.): Dithmarschen - Landeskunde - Kultur - Natur , 3/2008, Heide 2008, pp. 24–43.
• Rainer Naudiet: Speichererkoog Dithmarschen . Hansen & Hansen, Münsterdorf 1978, ISBN 3-87980-508-3

Web links

Commons : Speicherkoog Dithmarschen  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Website of the Speichererkoog of the tourism promotion Speichererkoog Dithmarschen
• Birds in the Speichererkoog
• NABU page on the storage area
• Information, pictures, maps to the Dithmarschen warehouse
• Nature Conservation Ordinance "Kronenloch / Speichererkoog Dithmarschen"
• Info flyer