Alcedo atthis - Riserve naturali e aree contigue della fascia fluviale del Po

Leipzig Riverside Forest (German: ''Leipziger Auenwald'') is one of the largest lowland

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 in

Central Europe Central Europe is a geographical region of Europe between Eastern Europe, Eastern, Southern Europe, Southern, Western Europe, Western and Northern Europe, Northern Europe. Central Europe is known for its cultural diversity; however, countries in ...

, lying mostly within the city limits of

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

city in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. The nature reserve is partially covered with hardwood forest and contains a large variety of endangered species.

Location

Leipzig Riverside Forest is divided into separate southern and northern parts, between which is a corridor containing many parks and green areas along the banks of the

White Elster The White Elster (, ) is a river in central Europe. It is a right tributary of the Saale. The source of the White Elster is in the westernmost part of the Czech Republic, in the territory of Hazlov. After a few kilometres, it flows into easte ...

. Between the two there is a certain ecological link through a corridor that comprises parks and grassland and which lies along the Elster Basin, which was constructed to provide

flood protection 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 ...

, the Elster flood plain and other water bodies of the Leipzig River Network. The total area covered is approx. 2500 hectares. Leipzig Riverside Forest 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 ...

Flora and fauna

Plants

Originally, the hardwood forest hosted more

elm Elms are deciduous and semi-deciduous trees comprising the genus ''Ulmus'' in the family Ulmaceae. They are distributed over most of the Northern Hemisphere, inhabiting the temperate and tropical- montane regions of North America and Eurasia, ...

s and black poplars which have become rare over the years, however the amount of old oaks with massive stems is still remarkable. The mixed forest contains many different tree species, almost half of them are either ash,

maple ''Acer'' is a genus of trees and shrubs commonly known as maples. The genus is placed in the soapberry family Sapindaceae.Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9, June 2008 nd more or less continuously updated si ...

sycamore maple ''Acer pseudoplatanus'', known as the sycamore in the British Isles and as the sycamore maple in the United States, is a species of maple native to Central Europe and Western Asia. It is a large deciduous, broad-leaved tree, tolerant of wind an ...

. Also found are small-leaved linden, common horn beam and various kinds of

willow Willows, also called sallows and osiers, of the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 350 species (plus numerous hybrids) of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions. Most species are known ...

s. In spring, the ground is covered with

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 ...

, sprinkled with spring snowflakes and

corydalis ''Corydalis'' (from Greek ''korydalís'' " crested lark") is a genus of about 540 species of annual and perennial herbaceous plants in the family Papaveraceae, native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere and the high mountains of tropical ...

in colors ranging from white and pink to purple. Some rather rare plants like the '' Geum rivale'' can also be found in the wet, almost swampy parts of the area.

Animals

The

common kingfisher The common kingfisher (''Alcedo atthis''), also known as the Eurasian kingfisher and river kingfisher, is a small kingfisher with seven subspecies recognized within its wide distribution across Eurasia and North Africa. It is resident in much of ...

has become quite rare in Germany, especially due to loss of habitat and as a result some waterways are closed-off from tourist paddling during the breeding season. Inhabiting the forest are

red squirrel The red squirrel (''Sciurus vulgaris''), also called Eurasian red squirrel, is a species of tree squirrel in the genus ''Sciurus''. It is an arboreal and primarily herbivorous rodent and common throughout Eurasia. Taxonomy There have been ...

s and a multitude of

woodpecker Woodpeckers are part of the bird family (biology), family Picidae, which also includes the piculets, wrynecks and sapsuckers. Members of this family are found worldwide, except for Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, Madagascar and the extreme ...

s, such as the

great spotted woodpecker The great spotted woodpecker (''Dendrocopos major'') is a medium-sized woodpecker with pied black and white plumage and a red patch on the lower belly. Males and young birds also have red markings on the neck or head. This species is found acros ...

, as well as the

black woodpecker The black woodpecker (''Dryocopus martius'') is a large woodpecker that lives in mature forests across the northern Palearctic. It is the sole representative of its genus in that region. Its range is expanding. The black woodpecker is easily the ...

and the European green woodpecker.

Literature

* ENEDAS e. V./ Autorenkollektiv: ''Der Leipziger Auwald. Ein Natur- und Erlebnisführer.'' Edition Leipzig, 2013, . * Gerd K. Müller (ed.): ''Der Leipziger Auwald – ein verkanntes Juwel der Natur.'' Leipzig, 1992. * Gerd K. Müller: ''Die Leipziger Auen.'' Staatsministerium für Umwelt und Landesentwicklung, Dresden, 1995.

References

External links

Leipzig Municipal Forest
on the City of Leipzig website
Auwald Leipzig
– Website of Society for Environmental Education and Research
Private website
– with information about the history, extent, soil and climate of the forest {{coord, 51.31719, 12.3565364, region:DE-SN_type:forest, display=title Forests and woodlands of Saxony Geography of Leipzig