Füllenbruch-Wanderung

As soon as you walk out of the residential area, you will reach the former Herford-Enger small railway line.
At the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries, the railroad lines between the larger towns were largely built and the rural areas were to be opened up. Several projects were discussed in the district of Herford, but for cost reasons only the Herforder Kleinbahn between Vlotho and Wallenbrück could be realized. The first section of the line between Herford and Enger was opened on August 10, 1900. The small railroad took over the transportation of goods for agriculture and industry and improved local passenger transport.

The Füllenbruch stop for passengers from Sundern was located in Herford city area, on the corner of Bünder Fußweg and Füllenbruchstraße, while passengers from Lippinghausen used the Ziegelstraße stop, the station was in Oetinghausen. Until 1945, the number of passengers on this line was around 60 per day, with numbers only increasing in summer due to excursion traffic. The line was still very popular until the 1960s, but from 1962 passenger numbers fell so significantly that the last passenger train ran here in 1966. The tracks were dismantled and the embankment has been used as a cycle and footpath ever since.

Continue to the "Bruch". Pollarded willows were planted along the Ziegelstraße, which are characteristic landscape elements in wet meadow areas. These pollarded willows, mostly basket willows, silver willows or quaking willows, used to provide firewood and wickerwork for baskets and other utensils and the infill of half-timbered houses. Now the pollarded willows are cut every 5-8 years. Here you can clearly see the geomorphology of the Füllenbruch: a flat valley characterized by gently rising slopes to the north and south. The fertile soils of the slopes were used for agriculture early on, the wet valley floor was the quarry where foals were perhaps grazed in the past ("Füllenbruch").

Before the path bends slightly to the right, old graves from the pre-Roman Iron Age (700 to the birth of Christ) can be seen. Even at this time, it was common practice to cremate the dead and bury the ashes in urns. The field was discovered in the 1930s.  This burial site is now a ground monument and is overgrown with a hawthorn hedge and willow bushes.

After taking a sharp left at the crossroads, you come to a place where the track connection of the Meyer-Lippinghausen margarine factory used to lead to the small railway line. In 1906, the company was given the longest siding (2.3 kilometers) of the 20 or so companies that were connected to the Herforder Kleinbahn by 1930. By 1920, the company was already transporting around 12,000 tons of margarine, fats and oils annually via the small railroad, which accounted for a significant proportion of total transport. This route ran in an arc to the west of today's ponds and then joined the Herford-Enger narrow-gauge railway line.

Shortly afterwards, you come across the Düsedieksbach, which is quite hidden in the reed grass and runs through the entire Füllenbruch in a west-east direction. It has its source in Oetinghausen and flows into the Werre. As a result of straightening in the 1930s, the stream has cut deep into the valley floor and forms steep banks.

You walk on towards Wohngebet and see an area on the left where plovers often breed. The lapwing, which is now classified as "endangered" on the Red List, was still breeding in the Füllenbruch in 1975 with 15-18 pairs. In 1986, the number of breeding pairs had fallen to 3 and has since leveled off at 6-8 pairs.

After turning right into the countryside after a short walk in the residential area, you will see the sedge meadow after passing the farmland: When meadows are no longer mowed, the plant populations change within a few years to become scrubland and forest communities. Sedges and reeds are now growing here, as the area can only be used in midsummer when it is very dry and is therefore only mowed sporadically. In the past, the very wet meadows were used as so-called "litter meadows". The cuttings, which were unsuitable for animal feed, were used as bedding for the cattle sheds.

The wooded area on the right has a partly inglorious history: In the 1970s, large areas to the right and left of the path "Am Vogelholz" were misused as soil and building rubble dumps. Meter-high landfills destroyed the original wet meadows and it was only thanks to the then emerging nature conservation movement that this process of destroying nature in the Füllenbruch could be halted. According to the new water quality report from the district of Herford, the water quality of the Düsedieksbach is "critically polluted" throughout the nature reserve due to the many discharges of residential wastewater into the stream. Until 2001, surface water from the Herringhausen industrial estate was discharged into the nature reserve through the ditch to the west of the "Am Vogelholz" path. Today, there is a stormwater overflow basin on the opposite side, which is hidden behind a high line of reeds.

Shortly after the stormwater overflow basin, you will see a wet meadow on your right. This is particularly species-rich, a so-called marsh marigold-water ragwort meadow. These two species are dependent on damp, later mown and less fertilized sites and this type of meadow is already on the Red List of endangered plant communities in NRW. The now rare wet meadows are therefore particularly protected and must not be damaged or destroyed. The spring aspect is particularly beautiful when the area is covered in the delicate purple flowers of the cuckoo flower.

Further on, we return to the woods. Around 20 years ago, a tree nursery planted exotic willows with flat ornamental vines here, the dragon willows that originally came from Japan. In nature reserves, such non-native trees and shrubs should be gradually replaced by native species appropriate to the location. The native fauna is adapted to these, as can be seen from the many feeding sites of caterpillars, for example. For this reason, willows were planted on the area to the left of the path and alder growth was encouraged.

Between Oetinghausen and Ziegelstraße, the Düsedieksbach runs straight as a die, but almost invisibly hidden under tall water grasses, parallel to the path. In 1998, a measure was taken here to develop the stream in a near-natural way: the banks were flattened and the stream bed raised. As a result, the adjacent areas can be flooded during high water, the stream bed was widened and the self-cleaning power of the stream increased.

You continue straight ahead and return to the starting point on Eilshausener Straße.

In between, you can read about individual aspects of nature conservation on site on information boards.

Text source: kreis-herford.de











.

Take sun protection and drinks with you. There are no refreshment stops along the way.
Binoculars would also be an advantage.

By car to the traffic circle Obere Talstraße/Eilshauser Str./ Birkenstraße  turn into Eilshauser  Str.


.

In residential areas at permitted locations.

Bus stop Hiddenhausen-Oetinghausen, A. KleinbahnhofBus routes 466, 468, 649
Information about journeys and fares: westfalenfahrplan.de

Bus stop approx. to the middle of the route: Talstraße, line 466