The Grundloses Moor (literally: "Bottomless Bog") is the largest, virtually intact

raised bog Raised bogs, also called ombrotrophic bogs, are acidic, wet habitats that are poor in mineral salts and are home to flora and fauna that can cope with such extreme conditions. Raised bogs, unlike fens, are exclusively fed by precipitation ( ombro ...

in the district of

Heidekreis Heidekreis ("Heath district") is a district (''Landkreis'') in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is bounded by (from the north and clockwise) the districts of Harburg, Lüneburg, Uelzen, Celle, Hanover, Nienburg, Verden and Rotenburg. History Hist ...

and 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 ...

Walsrode Walsrode (; nds, Wasra) is a town in the district of Heidekreis, in Lower Saxony, Germany. The former municipality Bomlitz was merged into Walsrode in January 2020. History Middle Ages 986 Foundation of Walsrode Abbey by Count Walo. The first ...

in the German state of

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

Description

The reserve has an area of and lies about 1.5 km west of the village of Ebbingen, 3.5 km north of the village of Fulde and five km northwest of the town of Walsrode. In the centre of the moor is the 2.5 metre deep lake ''Grundloser See'', which is 435 metres long from north to south, and 160 metres wide in its northern part. It has an area of and lies at above mean sea level. Roughly 400 metres to the northeast lies the ''Kleiner See'' ("Little Lake") with a diameter of about 60 metres.

History

The moor was formed in the northeastern half of a 4-kilometre-long depression enclosed by two parallel

end moraine A terminal moraine, also called end moraine, is a type of moraine that forms at the terminal (edge) of a glacier, marking its maximum advance. At this point, debris that has accumulated by plucking and abrasion, has been pushed by the front edge ...

s which were deposited during the

Saalian glaciation The Saale glaciation or Saale Glaciation, sometimes referred to as the Saalian glaciation, Saale cold period (german: Saale-Kaltzeit), Saale complex (''Saale-Komplex'') or Saale glacial stage (''Saale-Glazial'', colloquially also the ''Saale-Eiszei ...

. It is drained by a ditch that acts as the upper course of the Fulde. The Grundloser See was originally a residual ice age lake that had almost silted up. However, since then it has become a

bog pond A bog pond (german: Moorauge) is a waterbody in the middle of a raised or kettle bog, formerly also in percolating mires (''Durchströmungsmooren''). It is also called a bog pool, bog eye, raised bog kolk, bog kolk or just kolk. Bog ponds owe th ...

as a result of the build-up of peat moor and other processes.

Flora

The ''Grundloses Moor'' nature reserve is dominated by

cottongrass ''Eriophorum'' (cottongrass, cotton-grass or cottonsedge) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cyperaceae, the sedge family. They are found throughout the arctic, subarctic, and temperate portions of the Northern Hemisphere in acid bog h ...

cranberries Cranberries are a group of evergreen dwarf shrubs or trailing vines in the subgenus ''Oxycoccus'' of the genus ''Vaccinium''. In Britain, cranberry may refer to the native species ''Vaccinium oxycoccos'', while in North America, cranberry m ...

bilberries Bilberries (), or sometimes European blueberries, are a primarily Eurasian species of low-growing shrubs in the genus ''Vaccinium'' (family Ericaceae), bearing edible, dark blue berries. The species most often referred to is ''Vaccinium myrtillu ...

peat moss ''Sphagnum'' is a genus of approximately 380 accepted species of mosses, commonly known as sphagnum moss, peat moss, also bog moss and quacker moss (although that term is also sometimes used for peat). Accumulations of ''Sphagnum'' can store wa ...

and

cross-leaved heath ''Erica tetralix'', the cross-leaved heath, is a species of flowering plant in the family Ericaceae, native to western Europe, from southern Portugal to central Norway, as well as a number of boggy regions further from the coast in Central Europe ...

. It was formerly used for peat cutting, especially in the south, but has regenerated itself after measures to raise the water levels were introduced.

Access

It is possible to walk around the lake close to its shore setting out from hikers' car parks to the east (Ebbingen) and south (north of the Fulde). The lake is not suitable for bathing.

External links

Moor photo gallery

Grundloses Moor photo gallery

Grundloses Moor - Information by the NLWKN

Bogs of Lower Saxony Nature reserves in Lower Saxony Walsrode Heidmark BGrunlosesMoor {{LowerSaxony-geo-stub