Get Your Feet Wet!

The Urdenbacher Kämpe nature reserve provides a wide range of different habitats. Ponds and streams, reed beds and scrub willows characterize the low-lying areas, which are subject to frequent flooding. The higher, drier ground to the south of Haus Bürgel is covered by one of the last stretches of riparian hard-timber woodland to survive in the Lower Rhine area. Hayfields, hedgerows, and pastures with old fruit trees and pollard willows are rich in species and offer a vivid illustration of the area's agricultural traditions.

The nature reserve is the only place in North Rhine-Westphalia where you may still see wet meadows populated by pepper saxifrage and burnet – wildflowers that require regular flooding to exist. At a slightly higher level, where the soil is less damp, oat grass flourishes in meadows that play host to more than thirty different plant species.

From lady's smock in April to autumn crocus in September, they present a lovely sight. The meadow orchards with their apple and pear trees lend added charm to the landscape. The highest ground in the nature reserve, right at its centre, is dominated by large fields where crops are grown.