Top 20 Natural Monuments in Kreis Segeberg

The Nienwohlder Moor lies on the watershed between the North Sea and the Baltic Sea.[2] It drains to the west into the Lankau, to the south into the Alte Alster, and to the north into the Norderbeste. The nature reserve, which is managed by the Schleswig-Holstein State Hunting Association with the exception of the areas owned by the State Forestry Administration[5],[6] can be almost completely circumnavigated on hiking trails, along which information boards are posted at several locations. In the west, a hiking trail runs through the protected area in the area of the Lunden, a towering moraine ridge.

Today, typical raised moor vegetation can once again be found in the nature reserve, including round-leaved sundew, narrow-leaved cottongrass, bladderwort, white beak sedge, sedge cottongrass, cranberry, as well as cross-leaved heather, rosemary, and common heather. The nature reserve also represents an important habitat for birds. Various wading birds such as the curlew and the common snipe, as well as ducks such as the shoveler, teal, tufted duck, and garganey, as well as meadow pipits, whinchats, and stonechats, are native here. Marsh harriers and short-eared owls can also be found here. The undisturbed moorland is a refuge for cranes, which are now breeding here again. Various woodpecker species, red-backed shrikes, and songbirds are native to the wooded moorland areas. The nature reserve also provides a habitat for various amphibians and reptiles, as well as insects such as dragonflies and butterflies.

The moor was renaturalized in the 1980s through rewetting measures.[2][3] Today, in the area of former industrial use, it is an open raised bog with numerous water-filled peat pits, surrounded by a bog forest. The farmer's hand-cut peat pits at the edge of the moor are often water-filled. Sphagnum moss quaking grassland grows here, and the peat pits are slowly silting up. Further areas are occupied by grassland and forest. Some of the grassland is extensively grazed by robust cattle.[4] Some areas are still intensively used for agriculture, including one arable area.

Peat extraction, first documented in 1804, was initially carried out by peat-cutting by peat-farmers, and the peat was used as fuel. During the Napoleonic Wars of 1806–1813, peat was also shipped to Hamburg via the Alster. In the 20th century, peat extraction became an industrial operation. From 1951 to 1976, the white peat was extracted from an area of 84 hectares, initially by hand and later by machine.[2] East of Nahe, there was a peat loading point on the Elmshorn-Barmstedt-Oldesloe railway.

The nature reserve is located northeast of Hamburg between the towns of Nienwohld, Nahe, Itzstedt, and Sülfeld. It protects a drained and largely peat-extracted raised bog area, which is the largest and best-preserved raised bog remnant in Schleswig-Holstein.[2] To the north, it borders the former Elmshorn-Barmstedt-Oldesloe Railway line.

The approximately 398-hectare nature reserve is registered under number 100 in the register of nature reserves of the Ministry of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Areas. It was designated in 1982 (date of the regulation: March 25, 1982). The nature reserve replaces the nature reserve of the same name designated in 1980.[1] It is part of the FFH area "Alster system to Itzstedter See and Nienwohlder Moor" and the EU bird sanctuary "Alsterniederung". To the south, it borders the "Nienwohld" landscape protection area. The responsible lower nature conservation authorities are the districts of Stormarn and Segeberg.

The Ihlsee is located in the northwestern part of the district town of Bad Segeberg on the northern edge of the Kleinniendorf district and is part of the designated Ihlsee and Ihlwald nature reserve. The origin of the lake has not been fully investigated. Either the depression was formed after the Ice Age due to dead ice or it was created as a sinkhole by the collapse of a cave in the Segeberg salt dome. Today the lake has an area of around 29 hectares and stretches 450 m from north to south and around 850 m from west to east; the shore is 2.25 km long. Along with the Bültsee and the Garrensee, the lake is one of the few nutrient-poor lakes in Schleswig-Holstein. The lake is located in a depression and has no inflow. It is fed only by groundwater and inflowing surface water (precipitation). To the north of the bathing area is the outflow that connects the lake to the Great Segeberg Lake. The lake can be walked around, but there is no path along the lake. There is a bathing area on the eastern shore that has existed for decades. The bathing water quality is regularly monitored and in recent years has been rated as very good to good. There is a residential area on the northern shore. On the western and southern sides, the Ihlwald, a swamp forest, dominates the shoreline. From 1911 to 1961, there was a Kiel-Segeberg narrow-gauge railway station at Ihlsee, the tracks of which were removed in 1962. The Ihlsee was declared a nature reserve in 1950 because of its special features. The lake is a particularly nutrient-poor body of water, which gives rise to rare flora. Today, the lake is part of the Ihlsee and Ihlwald nature reserve and has been part of the Natura 2000 protected area network since 2006. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ihlsee

The railway cycle path runs directly along the northern edge of this beautiful nature reserve. From the cycle path, there are some good views of the moorland. The nature reserve protects a drained and largely peat-extracted raised bog area, which is the largest and best-preserved remaining raised bog in Schleswig-Holstein. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nienwohlder_Moor