birding...

The hinterland of the Free and Hanseatic City of Bremen, strongly characterised by its waterways, has a natural and cultivated countryside which few other major cities can offer. The river lowlands with their wetland meadows represent a diverse landscape of natural as well as historically cultural interest.

The typically open marsh landscape has developed as a result of hundreds of years of human management. Flooding and drainage with an extensive network of ditches have transformed the swampy countryside into usable wet grassland.

The low-lying countryside offers a varied habitats for a wide range of animals, birds and plants, including 722 endangered species and 114 species of trans-regional importance. Almost nowhere else in Northern Germany has the characteristic biodiversity of open water meadows been preserved as it has here.

Excellent examples are the Corncrake Crex crex, Sedge Warbler Acrocephalus schoenobaenus, Shoveler Anas clypeata, Marsh Frog Rana ridibunda, Marsh Lousewort Pedicularis palustris and Water Soldier Stratiotes aloides.

An exceptionally rich and outstanding natural world lies on Bremen’s doorstep.

Further information on Bremen’s nature reserves in German can be found at http://www.bremen.de/sixcms/detail.php?template=01_textserie_d&id=929135&_hauptid=551441&_subid=926045