Groß Schauener Seenkette: A Comprehensive Protected Nature Reserve and Wetland Landscape Atlas

Although the lakes themselves are natural features of the Brandenburg glacial landscape, their modern significance as a nature reserve is comparatively recent. The Groß Schauener Seenkette was formally designated as a protected Naturschutzgebiet on 27 April 2000, bringing the lakes and the surrounding fens, wet meadows, and forested mires under a unified conservation framework.

Two years later, in 2002, the Heinz Sielmann Foundation acquired the lakes and a substantial portion of the surrounding land. This purchase effectively removed a large part of the reserve from purely commercial or agricultural use and created the long-term stewardship zone now known as Sielmanns Naturlandschaft Groß Schauener Seen. The acquisition also aligned the area with the wider goals of the foundation, which operates several large conservation landscapes across Germany.

The reserve is also embedded in a broader regional landscape. It lies within the Naturpark Dahme-Heideseen, a sprawling nature park that connects numerous lakes, forests, and wetland areas in southern Brandenburg. Within this regional framework, the Groß Schauener Seenkette functions both as a standalone wetland sanctuary and as a node in a wider network of protected lowland lakes, mires, and forest patches extending toward the Spree river system.

Ecologically, the Groß Schauener Seenkette is a wetland-dominated system whose identity rests on the interaction between shallow open water, reed fringe, wet meadow, fen, and forest mire. The shallow basin of each lake supports extensive beds of white and yellow water lilies, water arum (Sumpf-Calla), marsh iris, marsh orchids, sundews, and royal fern along the margins, with the resulting gradient from open water through floating and emergent vegetation into saturated peatland forming the core ecological gradient of the reserve.

The wet meadows and fens around the lakes harbour typical lowland mire vegetation, including sedges, reeds, and moisture-loving herbs. These open wetland habitats are complemented by wet woodland and bog forest on the poorer, peatier soils. The most botanically distinctive element is the inland saline grassland at the Marstallwiesen, which adds a halophytic flora to an otherwise freshwater wetland assemblage and gives the reserve an unusually broad ecological spectrum for its size.

The hydrology of the chain is also central to its nature. Because the lakes remain shallow and strongly connected to fluctuating groundwater, seasonal water-level changes shape both the shape of reedbeds and the composition of the wet meadows, periodically opening up new muddy shorelines that are important for wading birds and amphibians. This dynamic wetland character is one of the chief reasons the reserve has retained such a rich suite of species.

The Groß Schauener Seenkette is primarily a waterbird and wetland wildlife area. The lakes and their fringing reedbeds support breeding populations of bittern, great crested grebe, mute swan, and greylag goose, while the broader wetland mosaic functions as a staging and wintering site for migratory waterbirds. The conspicuous power-line pylons standing in the surrounding landscape are regularly used as nest platforms by ospreys, giving visitors a good chance of seeing these large fish-eagles hunting over the lakes during the breeding season.

Reptiles and amphibians are particularly well represented around the shallow waters. Water frogs and common toads are joined by the endangered fire-bellied toad and, more unusually, the smooth snake, a rare and easily overlooked reptile in Brandenburg. Grass snakes hunt along the margins, completing a herpetofauna typical of undisturbed lowland wetland in eastern Germany.

The mammal fauna of the reserve is also notable. The undisturbed quality of the lake system and its surrounding mires has allowed the Eurasian otter to maintain a presence along the waterway chain, and otters are recorded using the lakes as part of a wider territory that includes the surrounding forest and wetland. Roe deer and other typical Brandenburg woodland mammals also make use of the wet woodland edges, but it is the combination of wetland birds, amphibians, and otters that defines the reserve's wildlife identity.

The conservation significance of the Groß Schauener Seenkette rests on its formal protection as a Naturschutzgebiet since 2000 and on the long-term stewardship the area has received since 2002, when the Heinz Sielmann Foundation acquired the lakes and a major part of the surrounding land. That acquisition effectively converted a large portion of the wetland from potentially vulnerable private use into a permanently managed conservation zone, now known as Sielmanns Naturlandschaft Groß Schauener Seen.

Within the regional conservation framework, the reserve is part of the Dahme-Heideseen Nature Park and contributes to a broader network of protected wetland sites across Landkreis Oder-Spree, alongside areas such as Trautzke-Seen und Moore and the Storkower Kanal reserve. Its shallow lakes, reed belts, fens, and inland saline meadows together protect a coherent mosaic of freshwater and halophytic habitats that is increasingly rare in central Europe.

The reserve is also recognised for hosting species that depend on undisturbed lowland wetland, including breeding bitterns, ospreys, fire-bellied toads, smooth snakes, and otters. Maintaining the current hydrology, restricting harmful land-use, and preserving the inland saline grassland of the Marstallwiesen are central to ensuring that the Seenkette retains its ecological integrity into the future.

The reserve is closely interwoven with the rural communities along its shores. The lakes border the villages of Groß Schauen, Wochowsee, Selchow, Schwerin, and Bugk, and traditional local uses of the water, including a working fishery on the Großer Schauener See (operated by Fischerei Köllnitz), still coexist with the conservation framework.

A second cultural strand is the historical Salzweg, an 8.5-kilometre themed trail that begins at Storkow Castle and runs through Philadelphia and Groß Schauen down to the lake chain. The trail links the reserve to the region’s salt-related heritage and to the unusual inland saline landscape at the Marstallwiesen, which were historically associated with traditional salt-meadow land use. Today this legacy is reinterpreted through four information points that explain the cultural and ecological story of inland saline habitats.

The highlights of the Groß Schauener Seenkette revolve around the interplay of six shallow, reed-fringed lakes and the wetlands around them. The reserve’s most distinctive assets include its undisturbed shoreline vegetation and floating-leaved aquatic plant communities, the inland saline meadow at the Marstallwiesen, and the presence of sensitive wetland species such as breeding bitterns, great crested grebes, ospreys, fire-bellied toads, smooth snakes, and otters.

The reserve also offers accessible ways to experience this landscape. A roughly 35-kilometre cycling route circles the lake chain, the historic Salzweg connects the Seenkette to Storkow Castle through thematic information points, and a nearby fish restaurant hosts an exhibition on the area’s wildlife. Within the larger context of the Naturpark Dahme-Heideseen, the Seenkette stands out as a comparatively quiet and well-protected chain of shallow lakes where Brandenburg’s wetland character is still intact.

Because the reserve is fundamentally a wetland landscape, the time of year strongly influences the atmosphere of a visit. Late spring and early summer are generally the most rewarding for waterbirds and for the show of aquatic and marsh vegetation, when reedbeds are active and species such as bitterns, grebes, swans, and ospreys are most visible around the lakes. The same months also bring the richest display of flowering aquatic plants along the shoreline.

Autumn and winter change the character of the Seenkette substantially. As water levels fluctuate, the lakes and wet meadows attract migratory waterfowl, making the chain a productive birding destination outside the breeding season. In winter, the frozen fringes of the shallow lakes and the surrounding dark forest mires give the area a much quieter, more atmospheric appearance, while still offering chances to observe wintering waterbirds. Any visit benefits from the calm, low-disturbance setting, which is part of what makes the reserve ecologically valuable in the first place.