The Klövensteen is a woodland area west of

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

, Germany. The forest covers an area of more than . The Klövensteen is located in the districts of Hamburg in

Rissen Rissen () is a quarter of the city of Hamburg in Germany. It is located in the borough of Altona and is the westernmost quarter of Hamburg, bordering the German federal state of Schleswig-Holstein in the west, north, and northeast and the Elbe ri ...

and

Sülldorf Sülldorf () is a quarter in the Altona borough of the Free and Hanseatic city of Hamburg in northern Germany. In 2020 the population was 9,474. Geography In 2006, according to the statistical office of Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein, the quarte ...

and also has parts in

Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; ; ; ; ; occasionally in English ''Sleswick-Holsatia'') is the Northern Germany, northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical Duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of S ...

namely in the towns of

Pinneberg Pinneberg (; ) is a town in the federal state of Schleswig-Holstein in northern Germany. It is the capital of the Pinneberg (district), district of Pinneberg and has a population of about 43,500 inhabitants. Pinneberg is located 18 km northw ...

and

Wedel Wedel () is a town in the Pinneberg (district), district of Pinneberg, in Schleswig-Holstein, in northern Germany. It is situated on the right bank of the Elbe, approximately south of Elmshorn, and west of Hamburg. History Foundation and Mi ...

and in the communities of Appen and

Holm Holm may refer to: Places * Holm (island), the name of several islands * Holm, Nordfriesland, Germany * Holm, Pinneberg, Germany * Holm (Flensburg), Flensburg, Germany * Holm, Nordland, a village in Bindal Municipality in Nordland county ...

. Originally the Klövensteen was part of a long inland dune, which lasted from 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 g ...

and extended over an area from the northern

Elbe The Elbe ( ; ; or ''Elv''; Upper Sorbian, Upper and , ) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Republic), then Ge ...

, from the present-day

Kiel Canal The Kiel Canal (, until 1948 called in German the ) is a fresh water canal that links the North Sea () to the Baltic Sea (). It runs through the Germany, German states of Germany, state of Schleswig-Holstein, from Brunsbüttel to the Holtenau di ...

over the Haseldorf marsh to

Geesthacht Geesthacht () is the largest city in the Lauenburg (district), District of the Duchy of Lauenburg (Herzogtum Lauenburg) in Schleswig-Holstein in Northern Germany, south-east of Hamburg on the right bank of the Elbe, River Elbe. History A church ...

. The forest was created through afforestation in the 19th century.

Area

The area of the Klövensteen mainly consists of mixed woodlands with hardwood trees and

conifers Conifers () are a group of cone-bearing seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single extant class, Pinopsida. All e ...

, broken up by open fields and clearings. Southwest of the Klövensteen lies the

Schnaakenmoor The Schnaakenmoor is a nature reserve area located in the northwest of the forest district Klövensteen in Hamburg, Germany. The Klövensteen is a forest district and a recreational area in the west of Hamburg. Schnaakenmoor covers also some areas ...

nature reserve. Schnaakenmoor consist mainly of marshes and is home to a number of rare animal and plant species. The southern border of the Klövensteen is along the

Wedeler Au Wedeler Au (; in older texts also named Wedelbe(c)k) is a river of Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It flows into the Elbe near Wedel. File:Wedelerau aus Joh Mejer Stormarn 1650.png, Wedelbe(c)k in 1650 File:Wedeler Au Born Spring.jpg, ...

, a river which begins in Hamburg-Sülldorf and flows into the Elbe. Some of the typical animals can be seen in a game reserve ("Wildgehege Klövensteen"), especially

fallow deer Fallow deer is the common name for species of deer in the genus ''Dama'' of subfamily Cervinae. There are two living species, the European fallow deer (''Dama dama''), native to Europe and Anatolia, and the Persian fallow deer (''Dama mesopotamic ...

sika deer The sika deer (''Cervus nippon''), also known as the northern spotted deer or the Japanese deer, is a species of deer native to much of East Asia and introduced to other parts of the world. Previously found from northern Vietnam in the south t ...

red deer The red deer (''Cervus elaphus'') is one of the largest deer species. A male red deer is called a stag or Hart (deer), hart, and a female is called a doe or hind. The red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Anatolia, Ir ...

and

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 Suidae, suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The speci ...

. The Klövensteen is presently used for agriculture and forestry as well as a recreational area.

References

External links

Klövensteen official website
Forests and woodlands of Germany Geography of Hamburg Pinneberg (district) {{Hamburg-geo-stub