Wild (Waldviertel)

The Wild is a forest in the Lower Austrian Waldviertel .

situation

The Wild is an approximately 2,500 hectare large, closed forest area, which extends west of the Horner Basin to Göpfritz an der Wild and the ridges of which rise up to 600 m above sea level. With the surrounding wet meadows, the game covers a closed area with an area of ​​about 20 km². Geomorphologically, the Wild is part of the granite and gneiss plateau , geologically part of the Bohemian Massif . The tributaries of the Taffa and the Seebsbach arise in the Wild . The game is largely uninhabited - in the Middle Ages the term “wilt” stood for “uninhabited” or “desolate”. In the 16th century the name was used as a nickname for the places.

fauna and Flora

Originally the area was a swampy forest with pines and fewer spruces, but many wet locations were thinned with spruce trees that were not typical for the location in the 1960s. Only in shallow hollows and at spring outlets could black alder swamp forests be preserved. In the wild, there is a multitude of closely interwoven biotopes in a small area , including wetlands such as bogs or alder forests, litter meadows , marsh meadows , tall herbaceous meadows and alluvial forests, but also coniferous forests and birch forests, which are the basis of life for many plant species and numerous insects and birds and depict other animals. The Seebsbach, in particular, is a habitat for otters , sea ​​eagles , black storks , goat milkers and kingfishers , but also crayfish , brook mussels and the threatened river pearl mussels are native here.

The Ellendser Moor and several surrounding litter and wet meadows are designated as nature reserves.

literature

• Josef Schuecker: The Wild - a threatened jewel in the Waldviertel . In: Natur und Land, Volume 78 (1992) 4/5. Pp. 92-94

Coordinates: 48 ° 44 '  N , 15 ° 26'  E