Wehningen: Birdlife in the Elbe Valley
Accommodation in Wehningen
Traces of the former castle
The entrance arch of the former castle and the castle pond have been preserved in Wehningen’s castle park. The castle was demolished in 1979/1980 as part of border security work in the GDR. The demolition marked a turning point in the village’s history; the surviving features give the former castle a tangible connection to today’s park.
Birdlife in the Elbe Valley
The birdlife of the Elbe Valley around Wehningen includes cranes, lapwings and birds of prey, as well as northern migratory birds such as bean geese, greylag geese and whooper swans. The sightings possible vary by season. If you are particularly interested in birds, you can therefore factor the time of year into your travel plans.
A nature and border history excursion described in 2016 led from Wehningen along the Elbe towards RĂĽterberg. An observation tower offered views across the Elbe valley and the chance to watch geese flying to the fields. The landscape and border history were thus among the themes of this outing.
In the wider travel destination of Amt Neuhaus
Konau and neighboring Popelau form a protected historic marsh village with long, narrow farmsteads. The ensemble includes Lower Saxon two-post hall houses, stables, barns and coach houses. It is considered the only fully preserved village of its kind in the world and lies directly on the dike in the Lower Saxon Elbe Valley Biosphere Reserve. The different buildings bring the settlement pattern to life on site.
Border history is also a theme in the wider travel destination of Amt Neuhaus. In the Elbe village of Konau, an exhibition coach house and a circular trail marked with information boards explore the history of people who lived in the former restricted zone under the theme “Border Crossings – Life on the Elbe in Konau, Popelau and Darchau.” The coach house uses photographs, exhibits, information boards and authentic interviews with eyewitnesses to tell this story. The exhibition “Forced Resettlements on the Inner German Border” in Popelau documents the impact of forced resettlement on people in Amt Neuhaus; at listening stations, interviews with eyewitnesses tell the stories of affected families.
Nature watching and hiking in Amt Neuhaus
The restored Storkenkate in Preten is a visitor destination and an information center for the biosphere reserve. Along the Vogelkieker Tour, bird species can be observed particularly well in the landscape from the Mahnkenwerder observation tower and the Kiek ut in Preten. The tour continues to Neuhaus, home to the Amt Neuhaus Ark Center, which has many old domestic animal breeds.
There are ten circular hiking trails within the municipality of Amt Neuhaus, ranging from WanderdĂĽne to Elbestrand. Flooding or other events may temporarily affect their availability. Keep this limitation in mind when planning a day hike.
Plan your stay around your interests
When looking for accommodation, it helps to first decide what you would like to focus on: birdwatching around Wehningen, the history of the castle park, or nature and culture in the wider area of Amt Neuhaus. If you are traveling with children, you can use these interests to guide your outing plans without trying to fit every theme into the same day. This lets you choose a base according to the things you want to focus on during your stay.
Discover more destinations
Gusborn, Hitzacker, Gartow, Trebel, Clenze, Woltersdorf, LĂĽbbow, Luckau
Back to the wider travel overview: LĂĽchow-Dannenberg.
