LandStreifer - "Diersfordter Wald"

Wooden planks show you the way through the moor, a gem is waiting and a wonderful forest landscape is revealed to you.

This hike gives you beautiful insights and is full of surprises.

Old, gnarled oaks, red beeches and Scots pines characterize the Diersford Forest and provide a home for the rare stag beetle. The Great Veen opens up right next door. Here you have a wide view and look at a large sand dune, you walk over a wooden plank path over the beautiful moorland. Very rare animal and plant species such as the sundew and cotton grass, rosemary heather, the moor frog and the large moor damsel are at home here.

In 1850, the lords of Diersfordt had a 1.800 hectare game gate built for hunting. On your way you cross the 350-hectare enclosure, which is home to red deer, fallow deer, mouflon and wild boar. Game locks give you access. With a little luck you can watch the shy animals from the observation hut on the way or elsewhere along the way.

If there is no animal in sight, you might at least see tracks of the wild boar. The animals are omnivores. They love beechnuts, acorns and field crops. But carrion, beetles and worms are also on their menu. They are not fussy when looking for food. They dig up the ground vigorously with their noses, break it up.

A real gem on your hike is the Black Water. The impressive Heideweiher is located in a forest clearing in the middle of one of the oldest nature reserves in North Rhine-Westphalia. Take a seat on a bench on the viewing dune and let the lake work its magic on you.

If your feet don't carry you 15 km, you can take a shortcut with the local hiking trail A1. However, the route is not fully signposted!

Already knew?

The term black water goes back to the brown-black color of the water. This is caused by the humic substances of the moor vegetation washed out of the peat.