Kühkopf-Knoblochsaue is 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, funga, or features of geologic ...
) of European standard, located in the
Groß-Gerau district, Germany. It is the largest nature reserve in
Hesse
Hesse or Hessen ( ), officially the State of Hesse (), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt, which is also the country's principal financial centre. Two other major hist ...
, part of the
Hessian Ried
The Hessian Ried () is a low-lying, agricultural region that forms part of the northeastern area of the Upper Rhine Plain. It is situated in Regierungsbezirk Darmstadt, South Hesse in west central Germany.
Location and description
The Hessian Ri ...
between the river
Rhine
The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...
and the
Hessische Bergstraße
The Hessische Bergstraße (; ) is a defined region (''Anbaugebiet'') for German wine, wine in Germany located in the state of Hesse among the northern and western slopes of the Odenwald mountain chain. With only of vineyards it is the smallest ...
. It is also the largest continuous along the Hessian part of the Rhine, providing
flood control
Flood management or flood control are methods used to reduce or prevent the detrimental effects of flood waters. Flooding can be caused by a mix of both natural processes, such as extreme weather upstream, and human changes to waterbodies and ru ...
.
History
The Rhine flowed in a large
meander
A meander is one of a series of regular sinuous curves in the Channel (geography), channel of a river or other watercourse. It is produced as a watercourse erosion, erodes the sediments of an outer, concave bank (cut bank, cut bank or river cl ...
(''Schleife'' or ''Schlinge'') enclosing the . Until the beginning of the 17th century, the Kühkopf was a hunting area for noble families, also for farming from single estates (''Hofgüter''). On 7 december 1631,
and his army crossed the Rhine during the
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...
, memorialized by the monument in the ''Knoblochsaue''.
In 1828/29, directed by Großherzoglicher Darmstädter Wasserbaudirektor , a shortcut of the river (''Rhein-Durchstich'') shortened the passage for ships. The Kühkopf became an island with the new Rhine in the west and the former river bed (''Altrhein''). The former island Knoblochsaue became a peninsula.
The
ecology
Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their Natural environment, environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community (ecology), community, ecosystem, and biosphere lev ...
of the area is of great importance, and has been protected from 20 March 1952.
It is now a Europareservat, protected since 2008 by the
Habitats Directive
The Habitats Directive (more formally known as Council Directive 92/43/EEC on the Conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora) is a directive adopted by the European Community in 1992 as a response to the Berne Convention. The ...
of the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
.
[Naturschutzgebiet Kühkopf](_blank)
(in German) naturschutzgebiete.de
Nature and landscape
The protected area contains
riparian forest
A riparian forest or riparian woodland is a forested or wooded area of land adjacent to a body of water such as a river, stream, pond, lake, marshland, estuary, canal, Sink (geography), sink, or reservoir. Due to the broad nature of the definitio ...
s (''Auwald'' or ''Aue''), both with typical and
black poplar
''Populus nigra'', the black poplar, is a species of cottonwood poplar, the type species of section ''Aigeiros'' of the genus ''Populus'', native to Europe, southwest and central Asia, and northwest Africa.Flora Europaea''Populus nigra''/ref>
...
, and
bottomland hardwood forest
Bottomland forest is woodland on lowland alluvial floodplains or lower terraces of rivers and streams. Bottomland forest is very rare in Europe. The bottomland hardwood forest is a type of deciduous and evergreen hardwood forest found in broad low ...
with oak, elm and aspen.
[Tatiana Roeder]
Kühkopf-Knoblochsaue : Unterwegs zwischen knorpeligen Kopfweiden
(in German) FAZ 30 April 2018
The Kühkopf area has a long tradition of
orchard
An orchard is an intentional plantation of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit tree, fruit- or nut (fruit), nut-producing trees that are generally grown for commercial production. Orchards are also so ...
s. In 1960, 3531 apple trees, 61 pear trees, 130 plum trees, 36 walnut trees and five
mirabelle plum
Mirabelle plum (''Prunus domestica'' subsp. ''syriaca'') is a cultivar group of plum trees of the genus ''Prunus''. It is believed that the plum was cultivated from a wild fruit grown in Anatolia.
Description
The mirabelle is identified by it ...
trees were counted, planted as ''Streuobst'' (orchard). The protected area has more than 2000 fruit trees, including more than 30 kinds of apples.
The extended swamps of the
floodplain
A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river. Floodplains stretch from the banks of a river channel to the base of the enclosing valley, and experience flooding during periods of high Discharge (hydrolog ...
s, with grass,
reed bed
A reedbed or reed bed is a natural habitat found in floodplains, waterlogged depressions and
estuaries. Reedbeds are part of a succession from young reeds colonising open water or wet ground through a gradation of increasingly dry ground. As ...
s and trees, offer breeding places for many kinds of birds, and resting places for migrating birds. The symbol of the Kühkopf is the
black kite
The black kite (''Milvus migrans'') is a medium-sized bird of prey in the family Accipitridae, which also includes many other diurnal raptors. It is thought to be the world's most abundant species of Accipitridae, although some populations have ...
.
Deer, wild boars, foxes, frogs and toads are common in the protected area. In spring, much of the forest floor is covered by
wild garlic Plant species in the genus ''Allium
''Allium'' is a large genus of monocotyledonous flowering plants with around 1000 accepted species, making ''Allium'' the largest genus in the family Amaryllidaceae and among the largest plant genera in the wo ...
.
Many trees host
mistletoe
Mistletoe is the common name for obligate parasite, obligate parasitic plant, hemiparasitic plants in the Order (biology), order Santalales. They are attached to their host tree or shrub by a structure called the haustorium, through which they ...
s.
Mistel
(in German) gg-online.de
Altrhein 02.jpg, Altrhein separating from the Rhine
Altrhein 01.jpg, Altrhein, Kühkopf to the left
NSG Kuehkopf.jpg, Altrhein
Kuehkopf Stockstadt 01.jpg, Altrhein near Stockstadt, Kühkopf to the left
Knoblauchsaue Schwedensäule 293-dh.jpg, Schwedensäule
Europa-Reservat Kühkopf-Knoblochsaue 3.JPG, Mistletoe growing on poplar
Wild garlic, Trebur.jpg, Wild garlic Plant species in the genus ''Allium
''Allium'' is a large genus of monocotyledonous flowering plants with around 1000 accepted species, making ''Allium'' the largest genus in the family Amaryllidaceae and among the largest plant genera in the wo ...
References
Further reading
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External links
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Kühkopf-Knoblochsaue
Portal of Groß-Gerau
Groß-Gerau () is the district seat of the Groß-Gerau district, lying in the southern Frankfurt Rhein-Main Region in Hesse, Germany, and serving as a hub for the surrounding area. In 1994, the town hosted the 34th Hessentag state festival.
Geo ...
and Rhein-Main
Naturschutzgebiet Kühkopf-Knoblochsaue
schatzinsel-kuehkopf.hessen.de
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kuhkopfknoblochsaue
Nature reserves in Hesse
IUCN Category IV