13.06.2022 Monday 9th day of vacation

The Andelhof

The Andelhof is a natural paradise. It was built in 1964 and acquired by the Hesse family in 1996. It is the only farm on Föhr in close proximity to the dike and the Wadden Sea nature reserve.

Föhr has only been an island since the storm flood in 1362. That's why there are no predators here like foxes, martens, and polecats. The Wadden Sea is the largest resting place for migratory birds between the Arctic and Africa. More than ten million aquatic and wading birds visit here every year.

The marsh landscape offered/offers them a rich food supply, but over the years the landscape has been changed by intensive agriculture with fertilization and drainage, as well as by settlement and drainage. The decline in species began. While black-tailed godwits (endangered) and spoonbills used to breed here, they had disappeared from the island, as well as green toads and moor frogs. They have since returned.

The Risse family converted the purchased area of 7 hectares into habitats and created salt marshes again. They built a panoramic window in a height of 10.80 meters in one of the buildings, from where there is a fascinating view of the biotope through a telescope. There are fluttering and swimming creatures everywhere here. Countless birds frolic here and sit on small islands. Of course, there were seagulls, barnacle geese, dunlins, and oystercatchers. There are many oystercatchers here, and two of them sit on the chimney of our neighboring house every day, calling loudly.

Peter Hering has already photographed 200 different bird species at the biotope on the Andelhof. It's amazing that there are people who make such an effort to preserve our world.

The surrounding meadows of the Andelhof are also worth seeing. I have never seen such a sea of daisies and other flowers before.

Unbelievable that the Risse family was reported to the building authority. The text of the report is in the photos, and the fact is that the exhibition and the platform with the panoramic window can be visited at any time by everyone, only against a voluntary donation.

Then we went back through small villages, and finally, I managed to take a photo of one of the many windmills. Another beautiful excursion.