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For us, the Eifel hills – situated in the extreme western part of Germany – are more than a recreation area close to the urban centres along the Rhine. We appreciate this region because of its variegated nature and furthermore here Birgit grew up.
The Eifel covers a big area with different types of interesting landscapes – too much information for one homepage! Hence, on these sites we focus on the parts of the Eifel which geologically consist of Devonian limestone formations (this corresponds to the area between Mechernich in North Rhine-Westphalia and Prüm in Rhineland Palladium). However, we are less interested in geology but rather in the corresponding nature.
The landscape of this area is characterized by rolling hills with sporadic limestone rocks penetrating the surface. It has been strongly affected by man over a long time: There have been discovered some archeological evidences from the Neolithic age and in particular numerous evidences from the Celtic period such as the so called “matrons’ stones”.
By defining extended protected areas and due to the traditional extensive sheep-farming some habitats which are quite rich in species have been preserved, in particular beech groves, heathland and poor, neglected grasslands with – despite of the wet and rough climate! – numerous thermophilic species.
First of all, the Eifel region is very popular because of its numerous orchids: we only present a small selection of the roundabout 35 species occuring in the area (A good survey is provided on the websites of the Arbeitskreise Heimische Orchideen of Northrhine-Westfalia and Rhineland-Palladium).
The region is also inhabited by numerous butterflies with some quite interesting species. Hence, we have dedicated a separate section for the butterflies of this area (see left menu). As these section only contains species we actually have watched and photographed in that area we hope to complete the list step by step.
In the following section, we would like to present at least some impressions of this region’s rich miscellaneous flora and fauna.
Flora
The regional flora is too variegated for compiling a representative assortment on our sites. Hence, our choice simply includes some flowers we appreciate.
Spring flowers:
Flowers in early summer:
Ophrys holoserica, 18.05.2008
Ophrys insectifera, 4.06.2006
 Globularia punctata, Ahrdorf, 11.5.2008
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