The Timmermoor is a

natural monument A natural monument is a natural or natural/cultural feature of outstanding or unique value because of its inherent rarity, representative of aesthetic qualities or cultural significance. Under World Commission on Protected Areas guidelines, nat ...

, about 4 hectares in area, in the southeast of

Bergstedt Bergstedt () is a quarter of Hamburg, Germany, in the borough of Wandsbek. It is located on the northeastern border of the borough and of the city. It is part of the area of Walddörfer (lit. ''forest villages''). In 2016 10,687 lived in Bergst ...

, a quarter of

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

, Germany. It was placed under protection by a Hamburg senate act of 4 February 1986. The

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 ...

is a

kettle hole A kettle (also known as a kettle lake, kettle hole, or pothole) is a depression/hole in an outwash plain formed by retreating glaciers or draining floodwaters. The kettles are formed as a result of blocks of dead ice left behind by retreating gla ...

that formed around 20,000 years ago during the last

ice age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gree ...

and is surrounded by

heathland A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a cooler ...

and woods. Contrary to earlier suppositions that it was a hole scoured out by a

tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, altho ...

, it is now thought that the hollow was formed by the settling of soil layers over thawing

dead ice Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...

. The area is a habitat for rare bog plants that are sensitive to trampling underfoot and that are only able to live on nutrient-poor soils. In addition, endangered

dragonflies A dragonfly is a flying insect belonging to the infraorder Anisoptera below the order Odonata. About 3,000 extant species of true dragonfly are known. Most are tropical, with fewer species in temperate regions. Loss of wetland habitat threa ...

and

amphibian Amphibians are tetrapod, four-limbed and ectothermic vertebrates of the Class (biology), class Amphibia. All living amphibians belong to the group Lissamphibia. They inhabit a wide variety of habitats, with most species living within terres ...

s live here.

References

External links

Timmermoor
City of Hamburg

Natural monuments in Germany Bogs of Hamburg {{Hamburg-geo-stub