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Hahnheimer Bruch

Rhineland-Pfalz  >  Germany

Small lowland nature reserve along a Rhine tributary, the river Selz, with associated ponds and marshes. Situated among the open Rhenish-Hessian hill country.

Added* by Phil_B
Most recent update 31 marec 2022

Description

The small river Selz has been renaturalised at this reserve. Along with an area of flooded marshes, reedbeds, ponds, grassland and scattered riverine woodland, some regionally scarce breeders are present and over the years a wide variety of passage and winter birds have been recorded. Over 200 species are now on the reserve list. A concerted effort in Spring on a good day can produce 70 species at the reserve and along the river.

The main attraction for most will be spring and summer reedbed visitors, such as modra taščica, trstni cvrčalec and rjavi lunj. rakar has become more regular and brkata sinica appears to have recently colonised. plašica has bred but nowadays has generally reduced to being a scarce migrant. There is a siva čaplja colony and scarcer relatives such as kvakač, mala bela caplja, čapljica, rjava čaplja and bobnarica have all been recorded in recent years, some regularly.

Passage waders can be found on the pools or flooded grasslands, but this is heavily dependent on weather and water level conditions. More regular are pikasti martinec, močvirski martinec, rdečenogi martinec zelenonogi martinec, spremenljivi prodnik, togotnik and črni martinec but local scarcities such as črnorepi kljunač, mali škurh, srpokljuni prodnik, Temminckov prodnik and even ploskokljuni liskonožec have all been recorded.

žerjav , bela štorklja and črna štorklja are regular visitors. The woodlands hold good numbers of slavec and kobilar. srednji detel has recently colonised the area. čuk and mala uharica breed, as does škrjančar, rjavi škarnik and črni škarnik.

Wildfowl numbers build up modestly in Spring and Autumn with kreheljc being the most easily encountered. Visibility can be a challenge with reeds obscuring the pools, so try using a scope from higher ground. In most winters, singles or low numbers of wild geese are recorded among the resident groups of siva gos, the most regular being beločela gos. vriskarica is regular on passage and sometimes winter.

Details

Access

Limited free parking is available at a couple of small paved areas next to the L432 between Hahnheim and Sörgenloch. This road is also on a bus-route (652) with the nearest bus-stop at Wahlheimer Hof to the east of the reserve, or alternatively at Sörgenloch to the west. A path, paved only on most of the southern side, circumvents the pools, grassland, and reedbeds. Cycling the southern edge is possible, but other stretches are higher grass or muddy depending on conditions.

Terrain and Habitat

Wetland , Lake , Mud flats , Agriculture , Scattered trees and bushes , Grassland , River , Reedbeds

Conditions

Hilly , Flat , Open landscape , Wet

Circular trail

Yes

Is a telescope useful?

Can be useful

Good birding season

Spring , Autumn , Summer

Best time to visit

Summer , Spring migration , Spring , Autumn , Autumn migration

Route

Paved road , Wide path

Difficulty walking trail

Average walk

Accessible by

Foot

Birdwatching hide / platform

No

Links

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