Frauenwinkel

Frauenwinkel
284px Zürichsee and Obersee divided by the Seedamm area between Rapperswil and Hurden, Frauenwinkel wetland in the foreground
Location	Seedamm, Freienbach SZ
Nearest city	Rapperswil
Coordinates
Area	350 hectares
Established	1927
http://www.frauenwinkel.ch

Frauenwinkel is a mire landscape in Switzerland, situated at the Seedamm area on Zürichsee lakeshore in the municipality of Freienbach in the canton of Schwyz

File:Frauenwinkel IMG 5206.JPG

information board and map

File:Frauenwinkel - Zimmerberg IMG 3760.JPG

as seen towards Pfäffikon and Zimmerberg

File:Ansicht vom Seedamm bei Hurden auf das Naturschutzgebiet 'Frauenwinkel', über den Zürichsee hinweg, auf Kempraten, im Vordergrund eine Herde von 'Kyloe's' (Hochlandrinder) 2011-11-27 13-27-16.jpg

as see from Seedamm towards Kempraten

File:Frauenwinkel - Pfannenstiel IMG 2532.JPG

the wetlands towards Ufenau island and Pfannenstiel area

Geography

Frauenwinkel is situated on the Seedamm area in Hurden, a locality of Freienbach in the canton of Schwyz. It is boarderd by the Zürichsee to the west, by the locality Pfäffikon SZ to the south and by the Hurden canal to the north; to its east the Obersee (upper lake Zürich) at Rapperswil is situated, as well as the Holzbrücke Rapperswil-Hurden being a separate protected area.

The name Frauenwinkel origins from a donation by the emperor Otto I in 965 AD to the pin Unserer lieben Frau (Our Lady) to the Einsiedeln Abbey.

Frauenwinkel Protected area

The reed and marsh belt at Frauenwinkel has a maximal width of about one kilometer from the west to the east and a length of about 1.5 kilometres (0.9 mi) from the north to the south. The lake area towards Lützelau and Ufenau islands it also part of the protected area of about 3.5 kilometres (2.2 mi). In parts of the area, local agricultural use is allowed. The open landscape of Frauenwinkel is the last great unspoilt section of the shore on Zürichsee. Its shallow water areas are southernly and easternly surrounded by marshes and to the northwest of the islands Ufnau and Lützelau. Established in 1927, Frauenwinkel is a cantonal protected area since 1980.

Flora and fauna

A partially wide reed belt lines the greater part of the shore. Landward there is reed vegetation with large and small sedge flora, rushes, Iris siberica, and the rare Gentiana pneumonanthe. In certain places even transition and high marsh occurs. In the nature reserve there are European rarities, among them Phengaris alcon, Eurasian curlew and Gentiana pneumonanthe, as well as Ruspolia nitidula, a small snail.

• Frauenwinkel 2012-10-05 14-40-55.JPG

  flora and ...

• Frauenwinkel 2011-11-14 15-26-45 (SX230HS).JPG

  ... fauna, local domesticated bees ...

• Frauenwinkel 2011-10-09 15-23-46.JPG

  ... and 'guests' from Scotland

Breeding sites

Frauenwinkel is an important water bird roost and breeding grounds of various rare reed birds. Here the Curlew has one of the last breeding places in Switzerland. On the passage in late February and early March, however, up to 200-strong Numenius arquata flocks may be observed, Emberiza schoeniclus and Acrocephalus arundinaceus'.

Endangering

Strong recovery pressure, nutrient input, excavated material from drainage ditches and (especially in this deep geographical location) make the propagation of rampant foreign plants to create the sensitive area. The splitting of the different areas within the larger habitat area is a threat to the bird's living there. In recent decades, commercial and residential buildings, intensified agriculture and leisure claims have gradually reduced the area, a remnant of nature in the laundry room: this is the charm and the great danger.

In addition to the safeguarding of sites by own land acquisitions and the completion of contracts, the broad-based Frauenwinkel foundation, supported by the environmental organizations Ala, SKV, WWF, ZSL and Pro Natura Schwyz, the municipality Freisbach, farmers and industry forces the protection and enhancement of the area by public relation works. Together with the cantonal office of the nature reserve (German: Fachstelle Naturschutz des Kantons Schwyz) the protection status may be optimized.

Legal protection

Frauenwinkel is the most important nature reserve on the Zürichsee lakeshore. Established in 1927 and protected in 1980 respectively 1996, the Frauenwinkel bog landscape and lake zone including the two islands belong to Switzerland’s most valuable riparian landscapes. Frauenwinkel ist part of the list of mire landscapes in Switzerland, bogs and wetlands being in the Inventory of Mire Landscapes of Particular Beauty and National Importance in Switzerland. The area is a BLN object, a moorland and fen site of national importance, according to the Cantonal Protection Ordinance (German: Moorlandschaft und Flachmoorobjekte von nationaler Bedeutung, Kantonale Schutzverordnung).

The protected site is also part of the Seedamm area including the remains of the Prehistoric wooden bridges respectively Prehistoric pile dwellings around Zürichsee settlements at the wooden bridge in Hurden, situated at the Seedamm isthmus between the Zürichsee and the Obersee lake area: Freienbach–Hurden Rosshorn, Freienbach–Hurden Seefeld, Seegubel and Rapperswil-Jona–Technikum. Because the lake has grown in size over time, the original piles are now around 4 metres (13 ft) to 7 metres (23 ft) under the water level of 406 metres (1,332 ft). As well as being part of the 56 Swiss sites of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps, the settlements are also listed in the Swiss inventory of cultural property of national and regional significance as a Class object.

Literature

• Pfahlbaufieber. Von Antiquaren, Pfahlbaufischern, Altertümerhändlern und Pfahlbaumythen. Mitteilungen der Antiquarischen Gesellschaft in Zürich, volume 71. Chronos, Zürich 2004, ISBN 978-3-0340-0672-9.

External links

• Website of the Frauenwinkel foundation (German)