Naturschutzgebiet Am Hornpottweg

After the pit was shut down in 1976, the excavation – roughly 445 metres long, 400 metres wide and 10 metres deep – was actually meant to be filled back in. But once the groundwater was no longer being pumped out, larger pools formed, and a varied vegetation quickly took hold – and with it a growing number of resting migratory birds, including species that were already endangered at the time. Conservationists, above all the DBV (later NABU Cologne) and BUND in Leverkusen, therefore applied to the Cologne regional president in 1980 to have the area placed under protection. After a few years an agreement was reached: the state of North Rhine-Westphalia bought the land and designated it a protected wetland in 1983. In 1993 the Hornpottweg was additionally closed to cars, to protect common toads, common frogs and smooth newts.

Rich vegetation, healthy fish stocks and countless dragonflies, bush-crickets and butterflies make the area a paradise for birds: more than 200 species have already been spotted here, around 110 of them on North Rhine-Westphalia's Red List. In spring and autumn the osprey rests here on its migration, while grey herons and cormorants fish the waters. The breeding birds include the little ringed plover, lapwing and common whitethroat, and with a bit of luck you may spot a hobby, goshawk, kingfisher or hen harrier. Away from the birds, too, the area is full of life: sand lizard, wood mouse and many bats live here, and deer and foxes show themselves again and again.

For a long time the northern side bordered on the so-called "Bullenwiese" (bulls' meadow), a large expanse of arable land and meadow on Leverkusen territory that served migratory birds as a resting place and where grey herons hunted for mice when the water was high. Since 2004, however, this area has been almost entirely built over with a commercial estate. Conservation groups sharply criticise this: as residential and commercial development creeps ever closer to the Hornpott pit, the reserve faces the loss of habitats and an impoverishment of its wildlife.