The Dithmarscher Eiderwatt, officially the Dithmarscher Eidervorland mit Watt ("Dittmarschen Eider Foreland and Watt"), 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, or features of geological or ...

in the districts of

Dithmarschen Dithmarschen (, Low Saxon: ; archaic English: ''Ditmarsh''; da, Ditmarsken; la, label=Medieval Latin, Tedmarsgo) is a district in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is bounded by (from the north and clockwise) the districts of Nordfriesland, Schle ...

and

Nordfriesland Nordfriesland (; da, Nordfrisland; frr, Nordfraschlönj ), also known as North Frisia, is the northernmost district of Germany, part of the state of Schleswig-Holstein. It includes almost all of traditional North Frisia (with the exception ...

in the north German state of

Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; da, Slesvig-Holsten; nds, Sleswig-Holsteen; frr, Slaswik-Holstiinj) is the northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Sc ...

. The site has an area of which consists of the

mudflat Mudflats or mud flats, also known as tidal flats or, in Ireland, slob or slobs, are coastal wetlands that form in intertidal areas where sediments have been deposited by tides or rivers. A global analysis published in 2019 suggested that tidal f ...

s on the

tidal current Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tables can ...

of the river

Eider Eiders () are large seaducks in the genus ''Somateria''. The three extant species all breed in the cooler latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. The down feathers of eider ducks, and some other ducks and geese, are used to fill pillows and qu ...

. The nature reserve is mainly located on the Dithmarschen side of the Eider foreland, from the

Eider Barrage The Eider Barrage (german: Eidersperrwerk) is located at the mouth of the river Eider near Tönning on Germany’s North Sea coast. Its main purpose is to protect against storm surges from the North Sea. It is Germany’s largest coastal prot ...

to the Eider bridge on the B 5 federal highway near Tönning. It lies within the municipal boundaries of the villages of

Wesselburenerkoog Wesselburenerkoog is a municipality in the district of Dithmarschen, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Euro ...

and

Karolinenkoog Karolinenkoog is a municipality in the district of Dithmarschen, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. In 1800 the municipality was named after the polder (), which was named in honour of Princess Caroline of Denmark Princess Caroline of Denmark (28 ...

, and partly in

Tönning Tönning ( German; Low German ''Tünn'', ''Tönn'' or ''Tönnen''; Danish: ''Tønning''; North Frisian: ''Taning'') is a town in the district of Nordfriesland in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. History Tönning was destroyed in the ...

(Nordfriesland). On the North Frisian side of the river lies the

Katinger Watt The Katinger Watt is an area near Kating (a village in the municipality of Tönning) in the south of the Eiderstedt peninsula in the north German state of Schleswig-Holstein which is partly maintained by the German Nature and Biodiversity Conservat ...

area. The reserve was based on the considerably smaller () nature reserve known as the Schülper Neuensiel Bird Reserve which existed from 1930 to 1989. The reserve was expanded in order to moderate the environmental effects of the Eider Barrage which had destroyed large areas of mudflat and salt meadows in the tidal stream of the river Eider and led to a significant reduction in birds of passage.
In section 3 of the nature conservation order it states: "The nature reserve enables the retention of a wet area in the tidal saltwaters and brackish waters of the Eider estuary and its mudflat and foreland areas and the conservation of animal and plant habitats typical of such areas, particularly for the wading and water birds that breed here or pass through on migration as well as the invertebrates occurring here."Naturschutzverordnung "Dithmarscher Eidervorland mit Watt"
/ref> According to the count of breeding birds by

NABU Nabu ( akk, cuneiform: 𒀭𒀝 Nabû syr, ܢܵܒܼܘܼ\ܢܒܼܘܿ\ܢܵܒܼܘܿ Nāvū or Nvō or Nāvō) is the ancient Mesopotamian patron god of literacy, the rational arts, scribes, and wisdom. Etymology and meaning The Akkadian "nab ...

, a German nature conservation organisation, in 2006 a total of 35 species (2165 pairs) breed in the reserve. If manmade areas are included, such as around the Eider Barrage, the port of Schülperneuensiel and the Eider bridge, the number rises to 43. Dominant species, with at least 5% of the population, were the

black-headed gull The black-headed gull (''Chroicocephalus ridibundus'') is a small gull that breeds in much of the Palearctic including Europe and also in coastal eastern Canada. Most of the population is migratory and winters further south, but some birds res ...

(22.2%),

avocet The four species of avocets are a genus, ''Recurvirostra'', of waders in the same avian family as the stilts. The genus name comes from Latin , 'curved backwards' and , 'bill'. The common name is thought to derive from the Italian ( Ferrarese) ...

(13.9%),

lapwing Lapwings ( subfamily Vanellinae) are any of various ground-nesting birds (family Charadriidae) akin to plovers and dotterels. They range from in length, and are noted for their slow, irregular wingbeats in flight and a shrill, wailing cry. A ...

(10.3%),

oystercatcher The oystercatchers are a group of waders forming the family Haematopodidae, which has a single genus, ''Haematopus''. They are found on coasts worldwide apart from the polar regions and some tropical regions of Africa and South East Asia. The e ...

(9.6%), redshank (9.1%),

meadow pipit The meadow pipit (''Anthus pratensis'') is a small passerine bird, which breeds in much of the Palearctic, from southeastern Greenland and Iceland east to just east of the Ural Mountains in Russia, and south to central France and Romania; an isol ...

(6.5%) and

mallard The mallard () or wild duck (''Anas platyrhynchos'') is a dabbling duck that breeds throughout the temperate and subtropical Americas, Eurasia, and North Africa, and has been introduced to New Zealand, Australia, Peru, Brazil, Uruguay, Arge ...

(5.7%). Subdominant species were the

skylark ''Alauda'' is a genus of larks found across much of Europe, Asia and in the mountains of north Africa, and one of the species (the Raso lark) endemic to the islet of Raso in the Cape Verde Islands. Further, at least two additional species are ...

(4.6%),

reed bunting The common reed bunting (''Emberiza schoeniclus'') is a passerine bird in the bunting family Emberizidae, a group now separated by most modern authors from the finches, Fringillidae. The genus name ''Emberiza'' is from Old German ''Embritz'', a ...

(4.2%) and

Arctic tern The Arctic tern (''Sterna paradisaea'') is a tern in the family Laridae. This bird has a circumpolar breeding distribution covering the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions of Europe (as far south as Brittany), Asia, and North America (as far ...

(2.4%); followed by the

gadwall The gadwall (''Mareca strepera'') is a common and widespread dabbling duck in the family Anatidae. Taxonomy The gadwall was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae''. DNA studies have shown th ...

(1.9%),

shelduck The shelducks, most species of which are found in the genus ''Tadorna'' (except for the Radjah shelduck, which is now found in its own monotypic genus ''Radjah''), are a group of large birds in the Tadorninae subfamily of the Anatidae, the biolog ...

(1.2%) and yellow wagtail (1.3%).

Sources

* Landesamt für Natur und Umwelt des Landes Schleswig-Holstein (Hrsg): ''einzigartig – Naturführer durch Schleswig Holstein'', Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 2008,

External links

{{commons category, Dithmarscher Eidervorland mit Watt
Portrait at NABU

References

Nature reserves in Schleswig-Holstein Bird reserves in Germany Dithmarschen Eider (river)