A small stream-side reserve along the Ilse, protecting floodplain woodland, wet meadows, and rare riparian habitats in the Lippe highlands.
Ilse Nature Reserve
Ilse Nature Reserve is a small protected area in the city of Lemgo, in the district of Lippe in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Designated in 2009 by the Detmold regional authority, the reserve covers roughly 14 hectares across five separate sections along the Ilse stream, a tributary of the Bega. It lies within the Lipper Bergland, or Lippe highlands, a gently rolling landscape of small valleys and mixed land use north and west of Lemgo's historic town centre.
The reserve's defining purpose is to safeguard a near-natural lowland stream together with its adjoining floodplain, including riparian woodland, wet meadows, hedgerows, gravel and sand banks, reed beds, and traditional orchard trees. These habitats support amphibians, bats, dragonflies, reptiles, butterflies, and other water-dependent insects, along with farmland birds that have become uncommon across the wider North Rhine-Westphalian countryside.
Although compact in size, Ilse is valued as a regionally and statewide significant refuge for rare and threatened species, contributing to the ecological coherence of the Lippe river landscape and the broader Bega catchment.
