A small but ecologically rich heath and bog forest reserve on the Bergische Heideterrasse near Hilden
Hildener Heide, Schönholz
Hildener Heide, Schönholz is a nature reserve (Naturschutzgebiet) of roughly 36 hectares on the outskirts of the town of Hilden in the Mettmann district of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It lies at the edge of the Bergische Heideterrasse, a landscape notable for its surviving patches of heathland, bog forest, and wetland, and is part of the larger Natura 2000 site known as Hilden – Spörkelnbruch.
The reserve protects a particularly diverse mosaic of wet woodland and open moor habitats. Mature birch and oak wet forests, alder carr, and true bog woodland with extensive peat moss cover meet open, actively managed wet heath, where sundews, bog asphodels, cross-leaved heath, and sweet gale define the character of the landscape. Small streams and the Itter river along the southern edge add a riparian element to the protected mosaic.
First placed under nature protection in 1938 and reaffirmed through the Mettmann landscape plan in 2012, Hildener Heide, Schönholz is significant as a refuge for several threatened habitat types that have largely disappeared elsewhere in the region, including bog woodland, alder-ash softwood floodplain forest, and damp heaths with specialized flora and fauna.
