A small wetland nature reserve in the sandstone Odenwald, protecting a reed-fringed pond and adjacent meadows.
Rohrsee von Rehbach
Rohrsee von Rehbach is a small nature reserve (Naturschutzgebiet) located near the village of Rehbach, a district of Michelstadt in the Odenwaldkreis of southern Hesse, Germany. Covering about 15.57 hectares, it lies roughly five kilometers northwest of Michelstadt's town center and sits within the broader Sandstein-Odenwald, or sandstone Odenwald region. The reserve protects a shallow artificial pond together with surrounding reed beds, sedge stands, and wet meadows that together form a notable wetland biotope in an otherwise dry, sandstone-dominated landscape.
The protected area is classified as an IUCN Category IV Habitat/Species Management Area and has been formally protected since November 24, 1986 under the identifier 1437007, with a supplementary ordinance issued on September 20, 1993. Its core value is ecological: the combination of open water, a pronounced reed belt, and adjacent moist grasslands provides important breeding, feeding, and resting habitat for a range of waterbird species, some of which are considered rare or threatened.
The site's significance for bird conservation, combined with its small size and specific habitat mosaic, makes it a typical example of the kind of focused wetland reserve that complements the larger forested and stream valley protected areas found elsewhere in the Odenwaldkreis.
