Windmühlenberg (Berlin)

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Windmühlenberg

Since February 2002, is the Berlin district Gatow of Spandau the nature reserve Windmühlenberg . The relatively small area of around 5.1  hectares is given a special characteristic by the endangered and in Berlin meanwhile rare vegetation type of the sand-dry grass flora , a residual flora of the steppe vegetation that was formerly widespread in the Berlin area.

Location and geology

Between the Havel and Feldflur

The 52-meter-high Windmühlenberg is around four hundred meters west of the Havel and borders directly on the historic center of Gatow, which has retained its village character to this day. On the other three sides, the hill is surrounded by the settlement on Windmühlenberg . Behind the small settlement are the extensive, former Gatow sewage fields in the north, the Gatower Feldflur landscape protection area in the west and southwest and the Gatower Heide in the south . The Spandau districts of Wilhelmstadt in the north and Kladow in the south follow the settlement areas . Almost three kilometers to the west, the Berlin state border runs parallel to Bundesstraße 2 to Brandenburg to the Seeburg district of the Dallgow-Döberitz community in Havelland .

Sand dry grass flora on the mountain
Windmühlenberg Gatow

Eastern slope of the Nauener Platte

The hill with the nature reserve Windmühlenberg belongs geologically to the eastern foothills of the Nauener Platte , a closed ground moraine formation from the Saale Ice Age and the last Ice Age , which is partly overlaid by terminal moraine formations. Similar to Teltow to the east of the Havel , the water masses of the thawing glaciers around 15,000 years ago, especially in the eastern edge area, left shallow, wavy deposits of till and sand . In the slope areas of the Nauener Platte to the Havelniederung near Groß Glienicke , Kladow and Gatow, up to ten meters thick plateau sands appear close to the surface and in large areas, such as on Gatower Windmühlenberg, the neighboring field corridor and Gatower Heide .

The glacial , nutrient-poor and dry sand forms the ideal prerequisite for the extreme site conditions of the dry sand grass.

ecology

Plant communities on sand

The species-rich dry sand grassland is characterized by loose, often patchy vegetation made up of grasses , which incidentally burn very easily, and low-growing herbs with a generally gray-green to brownish color. The grass fields on the Windmühlenberg are complemented by the rare specialist for life on sand, the herbaceous spring spörgel (Spergula morisonii , also spring spargel) with its narrow leaves in false whorls . Between grasses and herbs the purple flower of the lights from June to September Carthusian Elke (Dianthus carthusianorum) , the sunny warm slopes on lime and - silicate - dry grassland , embankments, heaths and sandy forests preferred.

The marginal and fringing societies are made up of shrubs and trees such as the real soapwort (Saponaria officinalis) from the carnation family , which can reach a height of 70 centimeters. Another defining element of the fringing society is the ground elder (Aegopodium podagraria) , which forms extensive colonies and has been used for centuries as a goat's foot or zipperweed as an effective remedy for gout . The pink-white flowers of dog rose (Rosa canina) or dog rose care in June in the hedges for splashes of color. With a height of up to 45 meters, the pedunculate oak (Quercus robur) towers above all plant communities that can reach an age of 1000 years on their preferred deep, slightly clayey and slightly loamy sandy soil.

Maintenance measures and fauna

Keeping the lawns in the highly sensitive Windmühlenberg biotope free of trees is one of the most important maintenance measures of the ordinance for the nature reserve, which merges almost seamlessly into the Gatower Feldflur nature reserve . With around 350 hectares, the field corridor forms one of the last self-contained, large-scale and contiguous arable farming areas in Berlin, the appearance of which defines a large number of different hedges in addition to the arable land.

The dry sand grass on the Windmühlenberg is home to the typical ground beetle and grasshopper fauna , specialized and rare insects and spider species . The protected blue-winged wasteland insect (Oedipoda caerulescens) , which feels particularly comfortable in dry habitats with little vegetation, and the blue-winged sand insect ( Sphingonotus caerulans ) should be emphasized here. With the protection of the hill, rare hymenoptera , weevils and xylobionte beetles in the tree areas are to be preserved or reintroduced.

Protection purpose, § 3 of the regulation

Windmühlenberg has the number NSG-33 among the total of 35 Berlin nature reserves. The ordinance on the nature reserve Windmühlenberg […] of December 17, 2001, announced on February 9, 2002, states under § 3 as a protection purpose (quote):

“The nature reserve is protected in order to

  • 1. to preserve the exposed areas with the characteristic sand-dry grass flora as an endangered type of vegetation, which is very rare in Berlin,
  • 2. to secure the habitat especially for endangered plants, reptile, insect and spider species,
  • 3. To maintain an ecological location that is important for research and teaching. "

Return of the mill

Construction of the trestle at the Berlin-Spandau post mill

By 1921, the mountain was crowned by a post windmill from 1845 (other details 1824 and 1844), which came to a bizarre end when it was sold by the owners to the film producer Richard Eichberg in 1921 . For the film The Love Adventures of Beautiful Evelyne or the Murder Mill on Evanshill , the mill was burned down - according to the script. The film is considered lost. The historical Gatow development association is currently trying to restore Gatow's old landmark by building a very similar mill that comes from Metzelthin , part of Wusterhausen / Dosse in the Prignitz region. This mill was originally supposed to be moved to Wriezen am Oderbruch and was already dismantled at the Wriezen train station. When these plans failed, the development association bought the mill in 2004 and stored it in Gatow. The space provided on the edge of the nature reserve is in line with the requirements of nature conservation (see in detail: Windmills in Berlin ).

literature

  • Ernst Klapp: paperback of grasses . Paul Parey Verlag, Berlin, Hamburg 1983, ISBN 3-489-60810-0 .
  • Klaus-Detlef Kühnel, Roland Lehmann (authors): Of course Berlin! Nature conservation and Natura 2000 areas in Berlin . Ed .: State Commissioner for Nature Conservation and Landscape Management, Senate Department for Urban Development. 2nd corrected edition. Verlag Natur und Text, Rangsdorf 2009, ISBN 978-3-9810058-9-9 , Windmühlenberg nature reserve, p. 198-199 .

Web links

Commons : Windmühlenberg  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 52 ° 29 ′ 9 ″  N , 13 ° 10 ′ 39 ″  E