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Fährinsel is a small
Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...
island off the eastern shore of the island of Hiddensee and which belongs to the
Insel Hiddensee Hiddensee () is a car-free island in the Baltic Sea, located west of Germany's largest island, Rügen, on the German coast. The island has about 1,000 inhabitants. It was a holiday destination for East German tourists during German Democratic ...
municipality. It is separated from Hiddensee by the narrow ''Bäk'', only 120 metres wide in places. It forms the western part of the border between the
Schaproder Bodden The Schaproder Bodden is a ''bodden'' on the Baltic Sea coast between the island of Hiddensee in the west and the islands of Rügen and Ummanz in the east. To the north the Schaproder Bodden is linked to the Vitter Bodden by the so-called ''Trog'' ...
and the
Vitter Bodden The Vitter Bodden is a type of lagoon called a ''bodden'' between the northern part of the island of Hiddensee (with the Neubessin and Altbessin peninsulas) to the west and north and the peninsula of Bug, the Wieker Bodden and the northern part ...
. The island is 1.23 km long and up to 580 metres wide. It has an area of ca. 37  ha. Ferry services between
Rügen Rügen (; la, Rugia, ) is Germany's largest island. It is located off the Pomeranian coast in the Baltic Sea and belongs to the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The "gateway" to Rügen island is the Hanseatic city of Stralsund, where ...
and Hiddensee used to run via Fährinsel. It was closed in 1952 when the port at Schaprode was upgraded to handle mailboat services. Fährinsel is a
nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...
and out-of-bounds to visitors. It is a roosting place for thousands of birds and the grazing area for a herd of
Gotland Gotland (, ; ''Gutland'' in Gutnish), also historically spelled Gottland or Gothland (), is Sweden's largest island. It is also a province, county, municipality, and diocese. The province includes the islands of Fårö and Gotska Sandön to the ...
sheep.


Geography

Fährinsel consists of a fan of several berms, up to 2 metres high, and spits, as well as silted-up areas of the lagoon, the Schaproder Bodden. About 12,500 years ago, during the last cold phase of the ice age, glacial ice masses piled up sand and gravel. When the ice retreated, the Dornbusch on Hiddensee, as well as two ridges of
glacial till image:Geschiebemergel.JPG, Closeup of glacial till. Note that the larger grains (pebbles and gravel) in the till are completely surrounded by the matrix of finer material (silt and sand), and this characteristic, known as ''matrix support'', is d ...
running westwards from
Rügen Rügen (; la, Rugia, ) is Germany's largest island. It is located off the Pomeranian coast in the Baltic Sea and belongs to the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The "gateway" to Rügen island is the Hanseatic city of Stralsund, where ...
, belonged to a vast Young Drift landscape in the southern
Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...
region. One ridge formed the heights of the island of Ummanz and the
Gellen The Gellen or Gellen Peninsula (german: Halbinsel Gellen) is a spit at the southern end of the island of Hiddensee off the north German Baltic coast. Its southern part is protected as an important bird reserve and is part of protection zone I of t ...
peninsula, another ran between
Trent Trent may refer to: Places Italy * Trento in northern Italy, site of the Council of Trent United Kingdom * Trent, Dorset, England, United Kingdom Germany * Trent, Germany, a municipality on the island of Rügen United States * Trent, California, ...
via the present ''Stolper Haken'' near Seehof northwards from Schaprode to the Fährinsel. Following the flooding of the region around Rügen and Hiddensee about 3,900 years ago, the aforementioned end moraines remained behind as islands. Not until much later (2,900 years ago) did abrasion begin, mainly as a result of breakers. Numerous spits and bars formed and Hiddensee was given its elongated shape. The block of till between Rügen and Fährinsel was eroded and, at some point, it must have been breached. When the remaining
cliff In geography and geology, a cliff is an area of rock which has a general angle defined by the vertical, or nearly vertical. Cliffs are formed by the processes of weathering and erosion, with the effect of gravity. Cliffs are common on co ...
section on the Fährinsel was abraded, southward running spits formed due to the currents from the northeast flowing past both sides of the northern tip of the island. The narrow bays, lagoons and runnels (''Riegen'') between the spits slowly filled with organic material and silted up. Fährinsel is covered by a dense growth of
juniper Junipers are coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Juniperus'' () of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on the taxonomy, between 50 and 67 species of junipers are widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere, from the Arcti ...
on the old berms. Between the berms an undergrowth of heather has developed. Reeds and
salt meadow A salt marsh or saltmarsh, also known as a coastal salt marsh or a tidal marsh, is a coastal ecosystem in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and open saltwater or brackish water that is regularly flooded by the tides. It is dominate ...
vegetation grows in the silted-up zones. In the lagoons, sedge and bog plants predominate. On the eastern shore of the island, a
flint field Flint fields (german: Feuersteinfelder) are large natural deposits of flint. They are found in numerous Jurassic and Cretaceous beds across the whole of Europe.
, about 150 metres from north to south and about 20 metres wide, indicates that there was formerly a cliff here. Of historical interest is a triangular set of ramparts in the southeast, the Swedish or Old Rampart (''Schwedenschanze'' or ''Alte Schanze''). This guarded the strait between the Stolper Haken and Fährinsel. At that time this was the first sea inlet on an approach from the north; the peninsula of Bug and the
Bessin Bessin () is an area in Normandy, France, corresponding to the territory of the Bajocasses, a Gallic tribe from whom Bayeux, its main town, takes its name. History The territory was annexed by the count of Rouen in 924. The Bessin corresponds t ...
were not as long as they are today. At the Stolper Haken is a counterpart of the rampart on the Fährinsel. Headlands on the Fährinsel are the ''Mövenort'', no longer recognizable as a spit in the central region, and the ''Buschort'', its southern tip. In the centre is a frequently-flooded salt meadow landscape, the ''Roschen'', which is only 40 cm above the level of the Baltic Sea. Off the island to the southeast is the island of Bullenriff, which measures only 85 by 80 metres, and is sometimes called ''Kuhwerder''. The name indicates that it used to be intensively grazed. It is, like the ''Roschen'', very flat and only covered by typical salt meadow vegetation.


Bird world

Despite the loss of several breeding species (including oystercatchers and
ruff Ruff may refer to: Places *Ruff, Virginia, United States, an unincorporated community *Ruff, Washington, United States, an unincorporated community Other uses *Ruff (bird) (''Calidris pugnax'' or ''Philomachus pugnax''), a bird in the wader fami ...
, and reductions in the populations of others, Fährinsel still has high importance as a breeding area. This is partly due to the fact it remains out of bounds and partly because of its special landscape. Shelduck nest between the juniper bushes nest and it is one of the most important breeding sites for red-breasted merganser in the Hiddensee area. On the Roschen there are breeding colonies of many black-headed,
common Common may refer to: Places * Common, a townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland * Boston Common, a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts * Cambridge Common, common land area in Cambridge, Massachusetts * Clapham Common, originally com ...
and
Mediterranean gull The Mediterranean gull (''Ichthyaetus melanocephalus'') is a small gull. The scientific name is from Ancient Greek. The genus ''Ichthyaetus'' is from ''ikhthus'', "fish", and ''aetos'', "eagle", and the specific ''melanocephalus'' is from ''mel ...
s.
teal alt=American teal duck (male), Green-winged teal (male) Teal is a greenish-blue colour. Its name comes from that of a bird — the Eurasian teal (''Anas crecca'') — which presents a similarly coloured stripe on its head. The word is ofte ...
also breed here. The
ruff Ruff may refer to: Places *Ruff, Virginia, United States, an unincorporated community *Ruff, Washington, United States, an unincorporated community Other uses *Ruff (bird) (''Calidris pugnax'' or ''Philomachus pugnax''), a bird in the wader fami ...
is an example of the extinction of a bird species on Hiddensee. Even in the 19th century it still occurred in the salt meadows south of
Kloster Kloster is the German and Scandinavian word for monastery. It may also refer to: Places * Kloster, Styria * Kloster, Denmark * Kloster, Sweden * Klošter, settlement in Slovenia People * Asbjørn Kloster (1823–1876), Norwegian social reform ...
and on Fährinsel in stable numbers. But around 1940/1950 it died out as a result of egg stealing by foxes and people. The common tern and
Sandwich tern The Sandwich tern (''Thalasseus sandvicensis'') is a tern in the family Laridae. It is very closely related to the lesser crested tern (''T. bengalensis''), Chinese crested tern (''T. bernsteini''), Cabot's tern (''T. acuflavidus''), and elegan ...
, which until about 1970 occasionally bred here, are no longer seen. Songbirds on the island include the skylark, white wagtail and red-backed shrike. During migration periods between March and May and between September and November, waders and ducks gather in large numbers on the meadows and in the shallow '' bodden'' waters. Despite its not very exposed location, Fährinsel is occasionally a stopover for various vagrants. Between 28 June and 10 July 1971 one to four gull-billed terns were observed and on 28 May 1985 an adult rosy starlingDittberner, Hoyer: Die Vogelwelt der Inseln Rügen und Hiddensee – Teil II – Singvögel. p. 137 from central Asia and Southeast Europe stayed on the island. File:Mergus serrator.jpg, Male red-breasted merganser File:Lanius collurio male am.jpg, Red-backed shrike (male) File:Larus brachyrhynchus, Potter's Marsh, Anchorage, Alaska.jpg, Common gull File:Shelduck (Tadorna tadorna) (4).jpg, Shelduck


Structures

On the island are several buildings on the western shore. In 1992, the Fährinsel experimental station of the Jena Central Institute of Microbiology and Experimental Therapy was established.


References


Literature

* Günter Möbus: ''Wie Hiddensee zur Insel wurde.'' Helms Verlag, Schwerin 2001, . * Karin Blase, Bernd Blase: ''Hiddensee A–Z.'' Demmler Verlag, 2008 (4. Auflage), . * Herbert Ewe: ''Hiddensee.'' VEB Hinstorff Verlag, Rostock 1983. * Arved Jürgensohn: ''Hiddensee, das Capri von Pommern.'' Verlag von Karl Haertel, 1924 (2. Auflage). * Erich Hoyer: ''Vogelführer Insel Hiddensee.'' Verlag u. Naturfotoarchiv, 1996, . * Hartmut Dittberner, Erich Hoyer: ''Die Vogelwelt der Inseln Rügen und Hiddensee – Teil I – Nonpasseres.'' Verlag Erich Hoyer, Galenbeck, 1993, . * Hartmut Dittberner, Erich Hoyer: ''Die Vogelwelt der Inseln Rügen und Hiddensee – Teil II – Singvögel.'' Verlag Erich Hoyer, Galenbeck, 1995, . {{DEFAULTSORT:Fahrinsel Islands of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Uninhabited islands of Germany German islands in the Baltic Nature reserves in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Hiddensee West Rügen Bodden