The “Eastern Teutoburg Forest” nature reserve
The “Eastern Teutoburg Forest” nature reserve borders the Senne in the northeast and covers 2,325 hectares of large parts of the Teutoburg Forest in the municipalities of Schlangen, Detmold, Augustdorf, Lage, Oerlinghausen and Bielefeld.
It is a large beech forest, rich in structures and rarely divided by roads. The nature reserve is made accessible to hikers via the “Holzweg”. Woodruff beech forest grows on the ridges of the Teutoburg Forest, which are covered with lime shards. In spring, even before the beech leaves sprout, the wild garlic forms white carpets of flowers on the forest floor. If you look from the limestone ridges of the Teutoburg Forest to the southwest into the lower areas, you will notice significant changes in the herb layer. The flat slopes and transverse valleys are partly heavily sanded over. Here other plant communities grow under the beeches.
The old beech forests are not only a habitat for plants, but also for many animals, such as the black woodpecker, the dormouse and various species of bats.
