Visiting the water buffaloes between Leverkusen and Cologne
Two water buffalo live between Leverkusen and Cologne
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With Fritz and Pudding at the gravel pit
Leverkusen/Cologne Watching water buffalos at work, experiencing nature conservation: This made a special city tour at the Hornpottweg gravel pit between Schlebusch and Cologne-Dünnwald possible.
Their names are Fritz and Pudding and they were the stars of the tour. But the water buffalos were not deterred, but grazed in peace, while on Saturday around 30 visitors explored the nature reserve around the gravel pit on Hornpottweg with city guide Angela Breitrück, Ingrid Mayer from the BUND district group and forester Karl Zimmermann. The 28-hectare green space between Cologne-Dünnwald and Schlebusch with the 18-hectare disused gravel pit is considered one of the most valuable biotopes in the Rhineland.
The water buffalo, well protected by an electric fence, have been tending part of the swamp landscape since April 2020. Your task is to ensure that the gravel pit in this area does not silt up or develop into a forest area. A total of five Galloways (a bull and four cows) help them.
It was Ingrid Mayer who, together with her husband Eberhard Mayer, who died in 2005, campaigned for his preservation. “The gravel pit was a popular destination for us for walks, to which we owe many wonderful nature experiences: We listened to the frogs and toads, followed the zigzagging flight of the bats in the evenings and observed the world of birds”, Mayer describes the beginning of the history of the Hornpott gravel pit.
Although the landowner Baron von Diergardt had dug the gravel pit for years and was actually obliged to fill it up, the Mayers prevented exactly that. Especially since many animals had settled at the quarry lake in the meantime and the little grebes had bred there for the first time. Mayers came to the conclusion that this area should not be taken away from nature again. “Although it represents a wound in the landscape, it had become a second-hand habitat,” Mayer clarified. They came to an agreement with the owner and – backed up by expert opinions and reports – submitted an application to the city of Cologne for the gravel pit to be recognized as a nature reserve. “You don’t see everyone,” said Mayer, referring to the current animal population. “But the last mapping counted 41 breeding bird species, some of which are on the Red List of Threatened Species. Even for migratory birds, the area is invaluable.”
The efforts of the couple and their allies were rewarded when the area was declared a nature reserve in 1983. After a working group took care of the maintenance and preservation, the Nabu-Station Leverkusen-Köln has been responsible since 2005 on behalf of the upper and lower landscape authorities. “Our big goal was,” Mayer ended after an hour and a half, “to combine local recreation and nature conservation.” Now it is to be hoped that people will treat the species-rich gem of the animal and plant world with care. “Unfortunately, there were always “some people who trespassed on the area to have a barbecue or to swim,” Mayer regretted, joking, “Maybe they can’t read the signs?”
Background: The name “Hornpott” is a popular name for a former industrial area in Dünnwald. The “Hornpottweg” was a busy road that was closed to through traffic by the city of Cologne in 1993.