Fasanerie

The Pheasantry is a sub-natural urban woodland park in Köthen on an 85-acres site. It holds the Köthen zoo and some playgrounds next to other lovely things. Furthermore lots of trails beyond the urban traffic invite the citizens for a walk or for jogging.

History

Up until the 17^th century this countryside has been fen, the so-called “Welsche Breite”. The marsh was dried up and subdued, but till this day typical floodplain tree species such as ash, copper beech, elm, English oak and lime bestride the landscape. The current tree population is aged 170–200 years at an average and the oldest oaks are more than 400 years old. Little by little lakes and aviaries were created. Thanks to the pheasant house built in 1711, the Pheasantry holds its current name.

In 1875 the famous garden architect August Hooff began his work at the ducal tree nursery in Köthen. He was significantly taking part in creating the horticultural site of the Pheasantry, including the zoo. This certain touch has endured until today. A monument at the “Buschteich” (forest lake, in the north-west of the Pheasantry) reminds us of his work.

In 1884 the zoo was opened, so it is one of the oldest domestic animal zoos in Germany.

In 2008 the Local Agency for Nature Conservation of the district Anhalt-Bitterfeld started thinking of preserving the Pheasantry as a protected landscape component. This is due to the remarkable diversity of species: 87 wood occupying species out of 25 families, great and lesser spotted, green and black woodpecker, nightingale, lots of bat species and the praised tree population, to mention but a few. The only difference to a floodplain forest is the lack of periodic floods. The protection was finally declared in the end of 2009.

In 2009 the sewage board has reconstructed the rainwater sewerage under the main alley, the connection from the Bärteichpromenade to the Wolfgangstraße. It was a 3 mill. Euro building project, necessary to prevent the adjacent road gulleys from overload. Newspaper Article (German)

If you want to know why the Pheasantry’s paths are closed once again, search the Mitteldeutsche Zeitung Newspaper for “Fasanerie”! Google Translator will be your friend ;)

The Cache

Wheelchair users are restrictedly recommended to find this cache as the last few metres are on a field, which can be quite muddy after rains. Cyclists may park their bikes at N 51° 44.938 E 11° 57.538. You find a close-by parking area at N 51° 44.922 E 011° 57.603.

Please do not spoil in your log entry! I am willing to encrypt or delete entries with too much details on the facilities.

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