The Ziegenberg is a low ridge between the villages of Benzingerode and Heimburg on the northern edge of the

Harz Mountains The Harz () is a highland area in northern Germany. It has the highest elevations for that region, and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. The name ''Harz'' derives from the Middle High German ...

in central Germany. The ridge is a designated

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 ...

. The reserve has an area of 88.4 hectares and has a variety of habitats including

mesophytic Mesophytes are terrestrial plants which are neither adapted to particularly dry nor particularly wet environments. An example of a mesophytic habitat would be a rural temperate meadow, which might contain Solidago, goldenrod, Trifolium, clover, Leuc ...

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes, like clover, and other herbs. Grasslands occur natur ...

(''Halbtrockenrasen''), bushes, pine woods and wet meadows. Its highest points are the eponymous Ziegenberg (315.7 metres above NN) and the Struvenberg (291 m)

Geology

As part of the northern uplift zone of the Harz, the Ziegenberg was formed during the Hercynian mountain building phase. As it was uplifted, the horizontal strata of the surrounding area, mainly consisting of

muschelkalk The Muschelkalk (German for "shell-bearing limestone"; french: calcaire coquillier) is a sequence of sedimentary rock strata (a lithostratigraphic unit) in the geology of central and western Europe. It has a Middle Triassic (240 to 230 million ye ...

, were tilted. The northern part of the Ziegenberg is characterized by

silt Silt is granular material of a size between sand and clay and composed mostly of broken grains of quartz. Silt may occur as a soil (often mixed with sand or clay) or as sediment mixed in suspension with water. Silt usually has a floury feel when ...

and

marl Marl is an earthy material rich in carbonate minerals, clays, and silt. When hardened into rock, this becomes marlstone. It is formed in marine or freshwater environments, often through the activities of algae. Marl makes up the lower part o ...

Flora

Within the nature reserve are the northernmost communities of Lotharingian or French Flax (''Linum leonii''). Amongst the other plants that occur here are the

Burnet Saxifrage ''Pimpinella saxifraga'', known as burnet-saxifrage, solidstem burnet saxifrage, lesser burnet is a plant species in the family Apiaceae, a native of the British Isles and temperate Europe and Western Asia. It is neither a burnet, which its l ...

(''Pimpinella saxifraga''), Large Self-heal (''Prunella grandiflora''), Fringed Gentian (''Gentianopsis ciliata''), Sickle hare's ear (''Bupleurum falcatum'') and

Stemless carline thistle ''Carlina acaulis'', the stemless carline thistle, dwarf carline thistle, or silver thistle, is a perennial dicotyledonous flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, native to alpine regions of central and southern Europe. The specific name ''aca ...

(''Carlina acaulis'').

Land use and nature reserve

Just before the hill drops away towards Benzingerode, the remains of fortifications belonging to a 10th-century fortress, the ''Struveburg'' are visible in the terrain. After the woods had been cleared, the hill ridge was used for centuries as grazing land. Later parts of the area were reforested with Black Pine (''Pinus nigra'') and quarries established. The aim of the reserve, created on 1 January 1982, is "the protection and conservation of arid and semi-arid grassland with their sub-Mediterranean plant communities and diverse insect fauna"Landesverwaltungsamt Sachsen-Anhalt
Ziegenberg bei Heimburg.
/ref> and the conservation of geological features. To this end, the hill is occasionally grazed by

sheep Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus ''Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticated s ...

and scrub is cleared away. The pine forest of the southern slope is to be turned into an area of forest steppe with

sessile oak ''Quercus petraea'', commonly known as the sessile oak, Cornish oak, Irish Oak or durmast oak, is a species of oak tree native to most of Europe and into Anatolia and Iran. The sessile oak is the national tree of Ireland, and an unofficial embl ...

. Other areas will be left to develop perfectly naturally. The crest of the ridge is partly accessible on two parallel paths. Along the foot of the southern slope runs a dirt track.

References

External links

Ziegenberg bei Heimburg – Information by the Saxony-Anhalt State Administrative Office (''Landesverwaltungsamt'')
{{Coord, 51, 49.73, , N, 10, 53.32, , E, type:mountain_elevation:300_dim:2000_region:DE, display=title Nature reserves in Saxony-Anhalt Blankenburg (Harz) Wernigerode