Würdenhain

History

The name Würdenhain means "Wooded Island" and is derived from Werder, meaning island and Hain, meaning forest. Evidence shows that cavemen may have inhabited Würdenhain thousands of years ago. Ernst Voegler from Prieschka, who was a teacher in Würdenhain until the First World War, made several finds from the younger and middle Stone Age in the Würdenhain area, in addition to Bronze Age shards. The oldest building in the district is the Würdenhain Church. It has gone through many renovations since its initial building in the 15th century. In 1747 a redesign took place in which the south side windows were enlarged. From 1952 to 1990, Würdenhain was part of the Bezirk Cottbus of East Germany.

Geography

The district is located at the mouth of the Große Röder, in the north of the municipality of Röderland. The administrative seat of the municipality of Röderland, Prösen, is about ten kilometres southeast of the village. The village lies about six kilometres west of the town of Elsterwerda and eight kilometres east of the town of Bad Liebenwerda in the south of the Niederlausitzer Heidelandschaft Nature Park, which covers an area of 484 square kilometres in the Elbe-Elster district and the Oberspreewald-Lausitz district. Its centrepiece, the Forsthaus Prösa nature reserve with one of the largest contiguous sessile oak forests in Central Europe, lies only a few kilometres north of Würdenhain in the former Liebenwerda Heath. The town is surrounded by the Elsteraue landscape conservation area, which covers about 6011 hectares and is divided into three ecological spatial units, with the Elsteraue II sub-area including Würdenhain. One of the conservation purposes of the landscape conservation area is "the preservation of the area because of its special importance for nature-based recreation in the area of the spa town of Bad Liebenwerda." The area extends to the north-west of the town. To the north-west of the town, the Alte Röder Nature Reserve, which covers about 80 hectares, extends along the course of the river Röder as far as Prieschka. Its conservation purpose is, among other things, to preserve and develop this area as a habitat for the Elbe beaver and other animal species whose existence is threatened. The Röder lowlands, which were placed under nature conservation as early as 1981, are home to one of the most consistent occurrences of the endangered Elbe beaver.

Most-observed species

• Great Tit

  Parus major Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  496
• Eurasian Blue Tit

  Cyanistes caeruleus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  463
• Eurasian Blackbird

  Turdus merula Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  453
• Common Wood-Pigeon

  Columba palumbus Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  377
• House Sparrow

  Passer domesticus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  372
• Eurasian Magpie

  Pica pica (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  359
• Common Chaffinch

  Fringilla coelebs Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  350
• European Greenfinch

  Chloris chloris (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  337

Most recent

• M 3.3 — 2015-04-16
  1 km NE of Gröbers, Germany
• M 2.8 — 2002-03-23
  1 km ENE of Gößnitz, Germany