Upper Sorbian
Upper Sorbian (), occasionally referred to as "Wendish", is a minority language spoken by Sorbs in Germany in the historical province of Upper Lusatia, which is today part of Saxony. It is grouped in the West Slavic language branch, together ...
: ''Mužakowska hola''), is a
natural region in Saxony The classification of natural regions of Saxony shown here was produced between 1994 and 2001 by a working group called "Ecosystem and Regional Character" (''Naturhaushalt und Gebietscharakter'') at the Saxonian Academy of Sciences in Leipzig as par ...
that lies south of the town of
Bad Muskau
Bad Muskau (; formerly ''Muskau'', hsb, Mužakow, pl, Mużaków, cs, Mužakov) is a spa town in the historic Upper Lusatia region in Germany, at the border with Poland. It is part of the Görlitz district in the State of Saxony.
It is located ...
. It has an area of 400 square kilometres.Wurlitzer, Bernd and Kerstin Sucher. ''Sachsen''. Berlin: Trescher, 2013, pp. 353-354.
Description
It is a gently rolling terraced region, much of it underlain by
Miocene
The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recen ...
brown coal seams. The height of the terrain varies between 120 and 170 metres above sea level. The dunes, which were created by wind action about 10,000 years ago during the postglacial period of the Weichselian Ice Age, form the largest area of
inland dune
Inland dunes are eolian sand dunes that are found inland, away from coastal regions.
Formation
In Central Europe, towards the end of the last glacial period (about 12,000 years ago), it was about 10 degrees colder than today. There was t ...
Rietschen
Rietschen ( hsb, Rěčicy) is a municipality in the district Görlitz, Saxony, Germany. It consists of the ''Ortsteile'' (divisions) Rietschen, Daubitz, Teicha, Altliebel, Hammerstadt and Neuliebel.Upper Lusatian Heath and Pond Landscape. The uninitiated often do not recognise the dunes as such because of their vegetation.
In general, the region is dominated by dry and nutrient-poor sandy areas that are a long way above the groundwater table. There are gley,
bog
A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and muskeg; a ...
and anmoor or half-bog soils in the basins of the lowlands.
Climate
The climate of the Muskau Heath is weakly continental, with warm dry summers and long periods of fine weather, and cold winters. At 650 mm, the annual precipitation is relatively high compared with the dry regions of northwest Saxony, but the water quickly seeps through the sands and the risk of forest fires in this area is relatively high.
Flora
The
potential natural vegetation
In ecology, potential natural vegetation (PNV), also known as Kuchler potential vegetation, is the vegetation that would be expected given environmental constraints (climate, geomorphology, geology) without human intervention or a hazard event ...
consists of birch and oak and pine forests. Today, forestry has resulted in pine monocultures in many areas. Other areas, on the other hand, are ecologically still very valuable, as in the north-western part of the ancient forest of Weißwasser and the Trebendorf Wildlife Park.
Fauna
The heath is home to
red deer
The red deer (''Cervus elaphus'') is one of the largest deer species. A male red deer is called a stag or hart, and a female is called a hind. The red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Anatolia, Iran, and parts of wes ...
,
roe deer
The roe deer (''Capreolus capreolus''), also known as the roe, western roe deer, or European roe, is a species of deer. The male of the species is sometimes referred to as a roebuck. The roe is a small deer, reddish and grey-brown, and well-adapt ...
wild boar
The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The species is ...
and, more recently,
wolves
The wolf (''Canis lupus''; plural, : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large Canis, canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of Canis lupus, subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been reco ...
migrating from
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
. The numerous ponds offer habitats to water birds as well as otters,
beaver
Beavers are large, semiaquatic rodents in the genus ''Castor'' native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. There are two extant species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers ar ...
s,
white-tailed eagle
The white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla'') is a very large species of sea eagle widely distributed across temperate Palearctic, Eurasia. Like all eagles, it is a member of the family Accipitridae (or accipitrids) which includes other diur ...
s and
osprey
The osprey (''Pandion haliaetus''), , also called sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor reaching more than in length and across the wings. It is brown o ...
s.
Ranges
The only military firing range in Saxony is located on Muskau Heath.