Project areas

Lower Saxony

V18 Unterelbe

The Unterelbe project area and Special Protection Area comprises the Lower Saxony part of the river Elbe estuary between the towns of Stade and Otterndorf. It is characterised by a particularly close network of aquatic and terrestrial habitats. The tidal dynamics, salt gradient and temporary large-scale flooding due to storm tides are characteristic environmental factors. These factors connect tidal shallow water zones, marine wadden areas, wadden areas of brackish water and fresh water and tidal flooding areas to constitute a habitat typical of estuaries.

Since the middle of the 19th century the river's navigation channel was deepened from an initial 3.3 m to today's 16 m. In the past decades, the building of dikes and barriers and the damming of tributaries caused substantial erosion and loss of habitat typical for estuaries.

Despite these changes, the region of the lower Elbe river still has a high percentage of landscape features typical for estuaries and is therefore of considerable importance for the flora and fauna of this area.

Impressions of the Unterelbe project area

A landscape shot with sea mist and rainbow over a meadow in the lowlands. — Sea mist and rainbow in winter in the project area Unterelbe. Photo: G.-M. Heinze/NLWKN

Landscape shot with sunrise. Fog lies over a meadow. — Freezing fog near the project area Unterelbe. Photo: G.-M. Heinze/NLWKN

A flock of geese flies along above the treetops against an orange morning sky. — Dawn with geese flying above treetrops in Freiburg/Elbe next to the project area Unterelbe. Photo: G.-M. Heinze/NLWKN

Dark landscape crossed by a river with ducks sitting on it. In the background are trees... — Winter evening with Eurasion Wigeons on a tideway. Photo: G.-M. Heinze/NLWKN

A completely flat landscape without any trees or bushes. There is only grass. Along the... — Project area V18 in Lower Saxony: Dyke foreland near Belum. Photo: H.-J. Zietz/NLWKN

A Black-tailed Godwit stands in high grass vegetation. Its beak is open. — Calling Black-tailed Godwit in high vegetation. Photo: J. Ludwig/NLWKN

More information

Find out more about this project area.

The project site in numbers

EU Special Protection Area (SPA)
DE2121401 Unterelbe

Size
16,7 ha

Official protection status
9 nature reserves with a total area of 5,8 ha

Land use
41 % grassland
41 % rivers
16 % arable land
2 % other

Significance for the project

The occurrence of Corncrakes in the Special Protection Area Unterelbe has been confirmed every year in the last 40 years. In addition to this continuity of settlement, some evidence for breeding through observation of chick-leading females has to be highlighted (e.g.: 17–20, or at least 16 different families in 1999 and 2000). The breeding population ranged from 13 to 77 between 1998 and 2009. Only in three, most unfavourable years (2001, 2004, 2005), less than 20 breeding territories were counted. In most years more than 40 territories were detected. This makes the Special Protection Area Unterelbe one of the few annually populated areas in Lower Saxony. It regularly accounts for a quarter of the national Corncrake population.

The Special Protection Area Unterelbe is one of the most important breeding areas for the Black-tailed Godwit in Lower Saxony. Since the early 1980s the breeding population went down from about 1,000 breeding pairs to 230 in 2017. Without the numerous measures taken for meadow bird conservation, it would probably have been much worse. Only grassland areas that were managed with regard to nature conservation are still populated. Accordingly, much remains to be done to restore a favourable conservation status for the Black-tailed Godwit.

Since these two focus species occur in the project area with a viable population, the conditions for the implementation of measures in this project area are particularly favourable. Here, experiences from other projects can be used: Previous conservation measures of the federal state, like the "Conservation Programme Unterelbe" and the LIFE project "Corncrake Unterelbe" already show clear signs of success.

Measures

Rewetting measures will compensate for the regular lack of rainfall during the breeding season. 17 wind-driven pumps are used to bring water into the landfill cells in the nature conservation areas. This prevents the breeding areas from drying out too quickly in spring and summer and improves their quality for the focus species.

In the tidal foreshore the structural diversity, especially in the expansive tidal reeds of the river Elbe, shall be enhanced by creating tidal ponds and reactivating old tidal inlets. As of 2019, 44 tidal ponds with different depths have been created. This measure does not only benefit the Corncrake, but also the Great Bittern. In total, 1,020 hectares of grassland have been rewetted (2019).

A detailed description of further measures implemented in the project area can be found in the "Integrated Management Plan Elbe Estuary":

www.natura2000-unterelbe.de

A flat grassland landscape from a bird's eye view. There are multiple flooded areas... — Aerial photo of Nordkehdingen in the project area Unterelbe. Here, 17 inner-dyke areas of 30 to 70 hectares each were rewetted. With the use of wind-powered pumping stations (bottom right), 700 hectares of grassland in total are kept wet during the breeding season at Unterelbe. Such measures were restricted to land owned by public authorities. Photo: J. Ludwig/NLWKN

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