State bird sanctuary in Seebach
The state bird protection station Seebach is a bird station in the Seebach district of the city of Mühlhausen in the Unstrut-Hainich district in Thuringia . It is considered the oldest bird sanctuary in Germany.
history
The bird sanctuary is located in the former moated castle ( Seebach Castle ) built in 1307 by order of Messrs. Albert and Hermann von Seebach . The property went to the von Berlepsch family in 1527 . The castle was rebuilt, especially in the 19th century and from 1911 to 1914, into a multi-storey stone building with a half-timbered structure that has been preserved to this day .
The castle owner Hans Freiherr von Berlepsch (1857–1933) devoted himself to ornithology from early childhood and is known, among other things, for his practical attempts at bird protection. At his instigation, today's bird protection park and other bird protection trees were created on the castle grounds from 1884.
In recognition of the Berlepschs' commitment to scientific and practical bird protection , the previously privately operated ornithological station was recognized by the Royal Prussian state government as a "State Test and Model Station for Bird Protection" on April 1, 1908.
In 1925 von Berlepsch handed over the management of the facility to Dr. Karl Mansfeld.
Since 1936 the facility at Seebach Castle has been officially allowed to use the title "State Bird Protection Station".
In 1945 the von Berlepsch family was expropriated as part of the land reform in the Soviet Zone and thus lost their headquarters in Seebach.
After the Second World War , the Seebach bird sanctuary belonged to the Central Biological Institute for Agriculture and Forestry as well as the Academy of Agricultural Sciences and the Institute for Plant Protection Research of the GDR .
It was affiliated in 1991 by the then Thuringian Ministry for the Environment and State Planning as a result of structural changes in the establishment of the authorities as an independent department of the Thuringian State Institute for the Environment.
Seebach Castle underwent an urgently needed, thorough renovation after the fall of the Wall .
The bird sanctuary had been a branch of the Thuringian State Institute for Environment and Geology since 1993 . Since 2019 it has been subordinate to the Thuringian State Office for the Environment, Mining and Nature Conservation .
Today's tasks
The current tasks of the Seebach bird sanctuary are regulated in Section 44 of the Thuringian Nature Conservation Act. According to this, the State Ornithological Center in Seebach is responsible for applied research and technical advice in the field of bird protection and applied ornithology. It is available to advise the authorities, regional authorities and private persons and organizations. She is also responsible for applied research and technical advice in the field of bat protection. Further tasks are the coordination of the identification of animals according to § 32 ThürNatG as well as the housing of confiscated and confiscated animals, as far as this can be professionally guaranteed.
In cooperation with the Hiddensee ringing center , the bird protection station looks after the 70 or so volunteer bird ringers in Thuringia. To keep animals seized as part of the enforcement of species protection , the facility operates a protection center in which seized amphibians, reptiles and birds are housed in a species-appropriate manner and cared for until a decision has been made about their further whereabouts.
The historical bird exhibition as well as the approx. 2 hectare park with aviaries and display boards directly at the castle can be visited by the public. In addition, an open day takes place on April 1st every year.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from October 19, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed November 9, 2010
- ↑ Thuringian Law for Nature and Landscape (ThürNatG) in the version of the announcement of August 30, 2006, last amended by Article 22 of the law of December 20, 2007 (GVBl. Pp. 267, 279)
Coordinates: 51 ° 9 ′ 50.7 ″ N , 10 ° 30 ′ 42.5 ″ E