Weesener Bach, also called the Lutterbach, is a river 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 ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, a tributary of the

Örtze Örtze () is a river of Lower Saxony, Germany. The Örtze rises north of Munster in the ''Große Heide'' (in the ''Raubkammer'' federal forest) and, after , joins the Aller southeast of Winsen. Source and course The Örtze valley is an old ...

. The Weesener Bach rises in the

Südheide Nature Park The Südheide Nature Park ("Southern Heath Nature Park", German: ''Naturpark Südheide'') is a large protected area of forest and heathland in the southern part of the Lüneburg Heath in North Germany. It has been designated as a protected nature ...

, south of the village of Lutterloh near Unterlüß, then flows through the Hermannsburg village of Weesen and enters the Örtze north of

Hermannsburg Hermannsburg is a village and a former municipality in the Celle district, in Lower Saxony, Germany. Since 1 January 2015 it is part of the municipality Südheide. It has been a state-recognised resort town since 1971. It is situated on the riv ...

after about . The source of the stream is above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardise ...

, its mouth is above sea level, giving a height difference of . Originally the Weesener Bach emerged from a bog region. Most of this was converted into ponds. The ponds have become overgrown in many areas with water horsetail. The entire course of the stream together with the banks either side, a total of , was declared 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 ...

in 1999. As a result, an almost natural, totally healthy stream has been preserved, whose water quality, apart from its upper course near the source ponds, is of the highest category, I-II, and only slightly polluted.Water quality levels
/ref> Due to its high water quality, the stream is home to a multitude of rare animals. Amongst the fish that thrive here are brown trout, bullhead and

brook lamprey The brook lamprey (''Lampetra planeri'', also known as the European brook lamprey and the western brook lamprey) is a small European lamprey species that exclusively inhabits freshwater environments. The species is related to, but distinct from, ...

. In 1987, 176 species of animals were recorded here, of which 36 were on the IUCN's

Red List of Threatened Species The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biologi ...

. Along the banks and water meadows there are 60 more endangered species, such as

vascular plant Vascular plants (), also called tracheophytes () or collectively Tracheophyta (), form a large group of land plants ( accepted known species) that have lignified tissues (the xylem) for conducting water and minerals throughout the plant. They ...

s, mosses, amphibians and reptiles. Even the

kingfisher Kingfishers are a family, the Alcedinidae, of small to medium-sized, brightly colored birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species found in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia, and Oceania, ...

lives here. Near the mouth of the stream there is still a

water mill A watermill or water mill is a mill that uses hydropower. It is a structure that uses a water wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in the production ...

(the ''Luttermühle'') with an overshoot

water wheel A water wheel is a machine for converting the energy of flowing or falling water into useful forms of power, often in a watermill. A water wheel consists of a wheel (usually constructed from wood or metal), with a number of blades or bucket ...

. The mill has been in operation since 1757 as a

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes (dimensi ...

. In order to feed water to the mill, a canal was dug with which the water course was raised. Immediately in front of the sawmill a large pond was excavated. This pond was needed to provide additional water to generate more power for the water wheel. When particularly high levels of power were needed for the saw, for example, to cut large oak tree logs, the additional water was indispensable. In former times, the canal was closed once a year, the water was then fed into the old stream bed, and the sand that had been washed into the pond and deposited there was shovelled out. Due to the enormous amount of work that this entailed, this process was later given up. A separate drainage channel was laid and, from time to time, the pond is allowed to empty very rapidly. Originally there was also a

flour mill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that has been separated ...

and a

tannery Tanning may refer to: *Tanning (leather), treating animal skins to produce leather *Sun tanning, using the sun to darken pale skin **Indoor tanning, the use of artificial light in place of the sun **Sunless tanning, application of a stain or dye t ...

here. At that time the water was diverted either to the sawmill or to the overshoot water wheel of the flour mill. As a rule the sawmill's water wheel was driven during the day and the flour mill's wheel at night. Operations ceased when there was a fire in 1995. The water wheel at the sawmill was replaced and sometimes drives an

electrical generator In electricity generation, a generator is a device that converts motive power (mechanical energy) or fuel-based power ( chemical energy) into electric power for use in an external circuit. Sources of mechanical energy include steam turbines, g ...

. File:WeesenerBach2007.jpg, The Weesener Bach between Lutterloh and Weesen File:WeesenerBachKanal.jpg, Canal to the Luttermühle sawmill File:LuttermuehleHermbg.jpg, ca 1960:the sawmill (left) and flour mill (right), each with an overshoot water wheel File:2008LuttermuehleHermbg.jpg, Luttermühle in 2008

References

{{Nature reserves in the county of Celle Rivers of Lower Saxony Lüneburg Heath Nature reserves in Lower Saxony Rivers of Germany

See also

References