Ulfewiesen near Weiterode

Ulfewiesen near Weiterode IUCN Category IV - Habitat / Species Management Area
View of the extensively cultivated meadows in the western area of ​​the protected area.
location	East of the Weiterode district of the city of Bebra in the Hersfeld-Rotenburg district of Hesse .
surface	33.73 hectares
Identifier	1632028
WDPA ID	165983
Geographical location	50 ° 57 '  N , 9 ° 50'  E Coordinates: 50 ° 57 '2 "  N , 9 ° 49' 47"  E
Sea level	from 205  m to 210  m
Setup date	December 1995 / January 1996
particularities	Special protection as a nature reserve .

The Ulfewiesen near Weiterode are a moist floodplain in the Hersfeld-Rotenburg district of Hesse . The Ulfe , which gives it its name , flows through the meadow, which arises from the confluence of two source streams near the state border with Thuringia . In this area, the previously straightened brook has been redesigned in a natural way in the past decades in cooperation with voluntary and full-time nature conservationists. The aim of the renaturation work was to prepare new habitats typical of the floodplain by relocating the stream. The Ulfe flows into the Fulda a few kilometers from the Ulfewiesen as a right tributary. Another river is the Ibabach coming from the north, which flows into the Ulfe in the western part of the meadows.

In order to encourage the development of the river Ulfe and its tributaries and to secure the adjacent floodplain areas as a habitat for the rare plant and animal species that occur here, the Ulfewiesen were declared a nature reserve in December 1995 .

Geographical location

The protected area is located in the district of Hersfeld-Rotenburg, between the Bebra district of Weiterode and the community of Ronshausen . The country road 3251 bounded on the north and the railway embankment of the distance from Bebra to Eisenach the protected area in the south and southwest.

In terms of nature , the Ulfewiesen are assigned to the “Solztrottenwald” in the “ Fulda-Werra-Bergland ” of the “ East Hessian Bergland ”. To the west, the area merges into the sub-unit of the “Bebra Basin”.

Protected position

With the ordinance of the regional council in Kassel of December 13, 1995, the wet meadow area was declared a nature reserve under the name "Ulfewiesen bei Weiterode". With the protection, the in-house development of the flowing water system around the course of the Ulfe was to be promoted and the adjacent floodplain areas were to be preserved and further developed as a habitat for endangered animal and plant species. In addition to the model ordinance, extensive grassland use is permitted in the previous manner. The protected area has a size of 33.73 hectares, has the national identifier 1632028 and the WDPA code 165983.

The sanctuary

The course of the Ulfe in the nature reserve.

In May blooming buttercups and cuckoo's light carnations characterize the meadows.

Pond in the south-eastern part of the protected area.

The nature reserve consists of a mosaic of different, interlinked habitats. Fallow areas , reed beds , tall herbaceous meadows , large sedge beds , small ponds and ponds are present in the damp and wet areas. There is also a small wood, individual groups of trees and woodland in the meadow. The existing grassland is mostly farmed extensively. Arable use only takes place on a small area on the western edge.

The Ulfe flowing through the Wiesengrund was renatured on two sections in the 1990s by volunteer conservationists of the Hessian Society for Ornithology and Nature Conservation . As a substitute measure for interventions in nature and landscape by the relining of a railway line, the straightened river were now in collaboration with the Federal Railroad meander- laid and the former river bed as oxbow lake left. The acquisition of land through voluntary nature conservation was helpful.

In the middle of the 2010s, three creek loops and ponds and a flood basin in the lower area were created during further renaturation work in the direction of Ronshausen. These changes to the Ulfe were part of a package of measures that is intended to relieve the settlement areas of Weiterode during floods. After the redesign, the area was left to nature so that the stream can develop on its own. In the meantime, the course of the Ulfe stream is lined with an alluvial forest in which individual old trees mark the former vegetation on the banks.

In the newly created small ponds and ponds, in which there is permanent water, various types of aquatic plant communities have developed with real water hose , frog bite , crayfish claws , yellow pond rose and duckweed . Occurring rare or protected plant species of the wet and wet meadows are panicle , beak and fox sedge , marsh cranesbill and marsh iris as well as the " Flowers of the Years " 1999 and 2007 marsh marigold and brook avens .

The protected area, made up of various, relatively small habitats, offers the birds breeding grounds, stepping stones and feeding habitats . In the years from 1980 to 2003 around one hundred bird species were found in the Ulfewiesen. The most common breeding birds included the reed warbler , reed bunting , fieldfare and pond warbler . Common breeding birds were also pond claws , blackcocks , field owls , dippers , yellow mockers and tree sparrows . Gray woodpeckers and red- backed red-backed red-backed woodpeckers brooded irregularly in or in the immediate vicinity . Other birds that bred occasionally in the Ulfewiesen belonged Little Grebe , Water Rail , small and green woodpecker , Warbler and Beutelmeise .

Black stork , kingfisher , red and black kite were seen as food guests. The white stork and marsh harrier were rather rare migrants . The not very frequent winter guests included teal , woodcock , wood sandpiper , sandpiper , whinchat and common redstart . At the beginning of March 2003 five cormorants rested on the tall, almost dead black poplars on the Ulfe . They were the first evidence of this species in the stream meadows of the region. In the months of March and April, larger swarms of the red thrush were observed on the passage. The winter bird population includes around thirty species. In it, the siskin is the most common bird. Larger swarms of siskins like to stay in the alders on the Ulfe.

Among the proven area amphibians and reptiles that the wide range of spawning grounds use, which is common frog , the most common type. Toads come in a smaller number in front, as well as ponds and Alpine newt . The grass snake is native to the moist areas of the meadows, while smooth snakes , wood lizards and sand lizards populate the dry areas on the embankment.

Among the 27 butterfly species counted that use the flowers in the various biotopes, the swallowtail and the brown fire butterfly are among the rarer butterflies.

Tourist development

From the hotel "Sonnenblick", located on the road between Weiterode and Ronshausen, the protected area can be walked through on a circular route. The regional cycle path "Waldhessen R15" leads along the southern and eastern border from the Fulda valley through the Ulfetal up into the Werra valley . The meadow landscape can be seen well from the path. There is also an information board here about the nature reserve.

literature

• Lothar and Sieglinde Nitsche, Marcus Schmidt: Nature reserves in Hessen , Volume 3, cognitio Verlag, Niedenstein 2005, ISBN 3-932583-13-2 .

Web links

Commons : "Ulfewiesen bei Weiterode" nature reserve  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Classification of natural areas according to Otto Klausing in the Hessen Environmental Atlas at atlas.umwelt.hessen.de ; accessed on December 7, 2019.
2. ↑ This ordinance came into force on the day after its publication in the State Gazette for the State of Hesse on January 1, 1996.
3. ^ Ordinance on the nature reserve "Ulfewiesen bei Weiterode" of December 13, 1995 in the State Gazette for the State of Hesse, edition 1/1996 of January 1, 1996, p. 43 f.
4. ↑ "Ulfewiesen bei Weiterode" in the world database on protected areas; accessed on December 7, 2019.
5. ↑ ^{a b} Lothar and Sieglinde Nitsche, Marcus Schmidt: Nature reserves in Hessen, Volume 3, pp. 189 and 190.
6. ↑ ^{a b} List of the plant and bird species from Lothar and Sieglinde Nitsche, nature reserves in the Hersfeld-Rotenburg district in nature reserves in Hesse, Volume 3, pp. 189 and 190.