Storchenroute - Südroute

The town of Petershagen lies high up in the north of OWL. Here, the Weser meanders through a rural idyll of meadows, fields, green meadows and romantic little villages. The Petershagen Stork Route leads past manor houses, old churches, mills, half-timbered houses and museums.

These sights are embedded in the beautiful landscape along the Middle Weser, which has been designated a bird sanctuary between Petershagen and Schlüsselburg for good reason. Extensive farmland and meadow landscapes, near-natural former excavation waters and the Weser itself with its barrages provide a diverse habitat for numerous plant and animal species in both summer and winter.

The occupied stork nests in the Weser villages are particularly attractive again in the summer months. After the population of white storks in North Rhine-Westphalia collapsed at the end of the 1980s - the last 3 breeding pairs bred in the Petershäger Weser floodplain - young are now being raised on more than 100 nests in the Minden-Lübbecke district alone. Around a third of these pairs breed in the town of Petershagen.