News: Short & sweet

07.08.2026, +++ Hiddensee +++ Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania +++

© Frau Prof. Dr. Irmgard Blindow

31.07.2026, +++ Wetland «Seeländereien bei Frose» +++ Saxony-Anhalt +++

Land acquisition alone is only half the battle in achieving our ambitious conservation goal of maximising biodiversity …

The endangered Little Crake also finds the best possible habitat in our Frose wetland © Uwe Nielitz

Ongoing site management, including biotope optimisation and maintenance measures in the Frose wetland, is key to maximising biodiversity among birds, amphibians and dragonflies.

Recording the species of birds resting, breeding and roosting, and looking after visitors to our birdwatching tower were the main focuses of our site manager’s work in the spring and early summer.

His regular monitoring of the area has yielded numerous encouraging results. For example, no fewer than five pairs of Western Marsh Harriers have established their territories in the wetland, Bearded Reedlings have bred successfully, and Great Bitterns have also been observed on their foraging flights.

The breeding season was less successful for the Common Crane population, as its chicks unfortunately did not survive this year. Predators such as wild boar, raccoons and foxes regularly scour large areas of the reed beds in search of food.

During their moulting season, around 300 Greylag Geese used the wetland as a secure and well-protected refuge.

As early as spring, several species of duck, several Savi's warblers and also Bluethroats were recorded. Our birdwatching tower remains a major attraction for nature lovers, birdwatchers and bird photographers alike.

As the breeding season draws to a close, work begins on controlling neophytes – invasive alien plant species such as ‘Canadian Goldenrod’ and ‘Giant Hogweed’.

20.07.2026, +++ Bad Kohlgrub +++ Rural District of Garmisch-Partenkirchen +++ Bavaria +++

Even a secret orchid site is no longer safe from damage these days.

Lady’s Slipper orchids © wikimedia.org

In 2022, with financial support from long-standing donors, our Foundation purchased a plot of hillside spring fen land covering approximately 0.7 hectares in the Ammergau Alps near Bad Kohlgrub, to protect the gentian, orchid and wild bee populations found there.

The Lady's Slipper that grows on our plot is a fairly long-lived species of orchid and, at 20–60 cm in height, is also the largest native orchid species. It has red to dark brown petals and a bright yellow ‘slipper’. This is what gave the orchid its German name. The plant is strictly dependent on calcareous soil.

The self-sterile Lady's Slipper relies almost exclusively on the mining bee of the genus Andrena for pollination. This species of bee requires habitats with sparse vegetation consisting of sand, sandy loam or silt, located no more than 500 metres from where the Lady's Slipper grows!

The greatest threat to this rare and (as yet) healthy Lady's Slipper population on our Foundation's property in the Ammergau Alps is the well-trodden path that has now developed there and the trampling caused by nature lovers interested in orchids, with the resulting damage to the roots. In the long term, this could have dramatically negative consequences for the vitality and future of this orchid site, which is home to up to 200 Lady's Slipper plants.

We will therefore be working with the relevant nature conservation authority and the Ammergau Alps Nature Park Association (Naturpark Ammergauer Alpen e. V.) to agree on specific measures in the near future to effectively protect our land and the valuable Lady's Slipper orchid population and will then implement these measures consistently.