The Stechlin - In the Realm of Clear Lakes

[Music] thank you [Music] [Music] there's a magical Chain of Lakes in the north of the German state of Brandenburg rich and fauna the region has preserved its pristine face to this day [Music] many of the lakes are crystal clear and unusual Cosmos of light [Music] new arrivals from all around the world come to this remote place [Music] while long lost Ones return [Music] the deepest of these Lakes is one of the best explored in Germany and one of the cleanest it's called Lake steflin [Music] schteklow is the Slavic word for glass and that's where Lake Steven got its name from [Music] foreign [Music] its water is said to be so clear that you could read a newspaper at the bottom [Music] light penetrates more deeply here than in many other Lakes the sandy soil of Brandenburg has been washed out there are few particles to impede the Rays of the Sun [Music] plants grow right down to a depth of 16 meters that's unusual for Northern German Lakes ideal conditions for dense underwater Meadows of rare stonewort algae [Music] the lake is oxygen rich even at Great depths clear clean water that's what lake stecklin is famous for [Music] large dense Beach forests protect a lake from agricultural nutrients such as fertilizers and slurry [Music] one of the fastest birds on Earth has recently returned here the peregrine falcon peregrines tend to Nest on cliffs the ones that nested in trees have gone extinct Falcons that have been reintroduced to the wild are relearning the Lost Behavior through artificial nests in 2001 the area was declared the stethlein rupine conservation area in order to protect the beach forests and the unique Clearwater Lakes they're ideal for the common golden eye the Park's emblem bird it breeds an old woodpecker cavities not long after hatching the chicks follow their mother foreign [Music] the leaves on the ground dampen the fall [Music] [Music] [Music] the ducklings walk through the forest to the lake in single file [Music] they are determined to follow their mother's calls sometimes she looks after a dozen chicks or more [Music] the young immediately starts searching for food they have to stick their head under water the sought after food is often on the bottom of the lake thank you their tail feathers stay up involuntarily the chicks keep bobbing to the surface like corks [Music] but with a bit of practice they manage they use their eyes to find their way the clear water helps with that [Music] the chicks have to beware large predators are everywhere [Music] Pike hide under Fallen trees some are up to a meter and a half long it's April in the shallow water along the banks of the lake the water temperature is around 5 degrees the predatory fish are feeling the spring fever [Music] the pike start their mating season foreign and again large Pike eats smaller Pike the males no more than 90 centimeters long are most at risk but during mating they're safe during this time the large female is demure and develops a biting inhibition it's only when the mating process is over that she thinks about biting again several males are courting the selected female they want physical contact to get her to lay her eggs Pikes spawn in batches every time one of the males contributes his dose to fertilize them [Music] the dance between those willing to mate goes on for hours [Music] the female has enough spawn she could lay up to 280 000 eggs [Music] that's enough for all the mail Pike to have their chance to reproduce [Music] the sticky eggs adhere well to aquatic plants The larva hatched two to three weeks later [Music] the young Pike mainly eat plankton and insects [Music] such as water fleas and Nat larva [Music] sometimes they get their mouths too full as they try to catch prey that's almost as big as them [Music] thousands of mosquito larvae can be found on the Lake's surface in Spring they take in air via siphon on their abdomen [Music] [Music] after around 20 days in the water they develop into mature mosquitoes [Music] [Music] is almost twice the size of the North Sea Island of heligoland it's almost 70 meters deep and filled with clean water offering a wealth of food for all kinds of fishers foreign [Music] [Applause] ospreys eat almost nothing but fish they can lift a catch up to half their own weight out of the water if the fish is too heavy the Osprey is left with nothing foreign [Music] rupian Conservation Area see more Osprey hatches than anywhere else in Europe the couple have noisy neighbors [Music] there are jays breeding next to them and they believe the birds of prey are a threat they're not Ospreys don't care about J chicks the Ospreys will have to put up with the annoying attacks for weeks [Music] there are more than a hundred Lakes hidden in the forest of this Conservation Area in Northern Brandenburg some are home to something precious Germany's only turtle species [Music] in the 19th century the European pond turtle was widespread but it was a popular Lenten food in addition many marshes were drained it has disappeared almost everywhere in Germany most of the remaining ones live here in the Conservation Area on land everything has long since turned green but spring takes hold later in the lake perch don't find much cover under the water lilies their leaves still have to grow the plants seem to be wrapped in Cotton wool [Music] once the temperature rises the remaining shoots of the last summer come to life [Music] entire Meadows of water mill foil reach for the Sun and shoot up [Music] Little Dragons can be found among them [Music] to impress the female the Great Crested Newt which grows up to 20 centimeters long performs its courtship display with the Magnificent Crest that gives it its name it carefully checks every leaf this is where it'll soon lay its eggs at this time of year land dwellers become water creatures the ornamental fin also serves to increase the surface area of the Newt amphibians can take an oxygen through their skin so that they don't have to gasp for air after mating the female lays up to 300 eggs for every egg it folds a small bag out of leaves to protect it from predators then it waits until the glue is set before looking for the next leaf the Magnificent male doesn't have anything to do with this anymore in addition to the Great Crested Newt the conservation area is home to the smooth Newt which grows up to 11 centimeters long during the spawning season the male's skin is spotted smooth newts are very adaptable and love Sunny bodies of water that are rich in vegetation like the Great Crested Newt the brown female lays up to 300 eggs into small Leaf pouches after about two weeks The larva hatch they have the appearance of a newt but they still have external gills foreign Weeks Later they'll lose their gills and transform into a newt with four legs that will go on land [Music] European pond turtles were once so plentiful in this region that their shells were used as shovels to clean ovens truckloads of them were taken to markets in Berlin and sold as food fewer than a hundred individuals survived the few remaining animals are under strict protection for a long time scientists couldn't find any young Turtles just old ones something they couldn't explain Palm Turtles like sunbathing they spend most of their time in the water and that's also where they mate but they have to go on land to lay their eggs sometimes they walk for a kilometer or more to get to their traditional location in the forest but the modern Forest isn't like it used to be it's full of new challenges even in this remote Conservation Area the animals have to cross roads and paths in many places the forest was planted too densely so that hardly any sunlight reached the ground turtle eggs need warmth and light to develop otherwise they die that's probably the reason why it's almost only old animals that are found clearings have been created where the females can lay up to 20 eggs in a hollow in the ground foreign but a further threat has come to the forest around Lake Steven raccoons from North America once released into the forests of central Germany they reached Brandenburg in the mid 80s here they attacked the last pond turtles sixty percent of all animals that are caught have fresh injuries that point to the new arrivals while the reptiles are enjoying the Sun the Predator with the mask comes dangerously close using its front paws it looks for snails and worms on the banks of the lake Turtle would be a good catch for the raccoon [Music] safe the turtles are safe from predators in the lake it's the early summer things are turning green underwater too now [Music] [Music] thank you [Music] during their growth period water lilies and other plants withdraw so many nutrients from the lake that the water in Lake steckling becomes even clearer the baby pike have occupied their territories once they reach a length of just two centimeters they eat almost no Plankton and start hunting other fish foreign such as young perch that are seeking cover in the sprouting underwater Meadows between the aquatic plants the pike wait for their opportunity they grow quickly after one year they can reach 15 and sometimes even 30 centimeters [Music] foreign they dash out at the right moment [Music] young perch are a fitting catch they haven't developed hard fin rays and aren't as difficult to swallow as mature perch [Music] the protected Bays of the schneckline are home to a different delicate Predator the bladder wart a carnivorous plant foreign as soon as a water flea touches the fine bristles it's sucked in by the bladders and digested [Music] [Music] on the bottom of the stetlin tench for food [Music] they like to forage for small animals such as crabs worms and mollusks in the mud of The Meadows of the water mill foil and stonewort tench as well as fish that have been released into the lake such as grass carp are a problem for the stachline [Music] throw up sediment while searching for food the duff is deposited on the stonewort and they die that leads to less oxygen in the lake and threatens the survival of numerous fish foreign butcher is a sixth generation fisherman he has specialized in Catching vendus in the lake using long Nets Reiner butcher pulls the fish which is related to the Herring from a depth of around 15 meters vendus are typical inhabitants of oxygen-rich clear water lakes when they spawn most of the eggs get caught on plants and develop there they would die on muddy ground the fisherman's yield depends on the water quality and the rich underwater Flora each year they harvest around two to three tons from the lake the Ospreys don't have a problem to supply the two hungry young with fresh fish before migrating to Africa in the autumn foreign [Music] weren't always this good in the 1970s and 80s the vendus yield rapidly dropped to one ton per year [Music] the neighboring Lake namits was already connected to Lake stefleen back then [Music] East Germany's first nuclear power station went into operation here in 1966 it was cooled with water from Lake namits the water flowed into Lake stecklin warming it up [Music] [Music] the reinsberg power station was closed down in 1990 under the Communists nutrient-rich Wastewater from a sewage treatment plant was also channeled into the lake microorganisms multiplied the water became murkier and poorer in oxygen for years even during the construction of the nuclear power plant a research station was set up to monitor the effects of the cooling cycle on the lake the former fishing Huts are now part of the leibness Institute of freshwater ecology and Inland Fisheries The cutting-edge Test Facilities are unique in the world like huge test tubes cylinders open at the top and bottom going down 20 meters and allowing experiments in the lake they can be used to study the effects of climate change for example foreign is quite tucked away and yet it's one of the best researched lakes in Europe [Music] something has happened in the Peregrine's nest [Music] after incubating the eggs for around five weeks two chicks have hatched they're going to be looked after by their parents for six to seven weeks during that time they'll be shown how to raise young in trees [Music] they are now more than 30 pairs of peregrine falcons in Brandenburg and Mecklenburg for Palmer breeding in trees instead of on cliffs once the young are fully fledged they still stay near their parents for four to six weeks before leaving to find their own territory the hope is that the next generation of tree breeding peregrine falcons will settle in Far Away forests from here they could reconquer old habitats where there are no Cliffs for breeding the forests of Central Europe all the way to the Ural Mountains where they had long since disappeared for the peregrine falcons the forests are a stepping stone towards settling in new areas others have only been living on the schneckline for a short while the raccoon dog for example it reached the conservation area in the mid 90s after common raccoons they originated in eastern Asia and Japan they were released in the Soviet Union as animals valued for their fur in the early 20th century they breed like the proverbial rabbits and so since then these wild dogs have been conquering Europe six to ten puppies per litter is Not Unusual the raccoon dogs often have their young and abandoned Fox Earths or Badger sets after two weeks the young leave their burrow for the first time and after six weeks they're fully grown [Music] raccoon dogs are omnivores they eat nuts berries and fruit or they hunt for small animals at dawn [Music] the steklin is an ideal habitat for them biologists are concerned that they will attack the last Palm Turtles just like the common raccoons do foreign [Music] since they have almost no natural Predators the new arrivals are spreading further into the centuries-old beach forests [Music] in many places in the conservation area dead trees are simply left standing [Music] the forest rejuvenates around them on its own [Music] dead wood is an important habitat and breeding space for many insects fully grown stag Beetles for example where only the males have the antlers spend a maximum of one month living outside they spend up to eight years as larva living in and off a dead tree a raccoon and lofty Heights is observing the success of special protective measures something's happening in the sand of the clearing after the trees were removed the sun was able to warm up the breeding sites of the pond turtles the eggs laid the previous year have developed the baby turtles spent their first winter protected in the Sandy ground now it's warm enough to set off to the lake [Music] the small animals are creating an interest [Music] it's worthwhile for the raccoons to keep an eye on the pond turtles nesting sites [Music] quick [Music] the new generation manages to reach the safety of the water just in time this time the raccoon was too slow Darin a particularly clean stream with otters living on its banks flows right through the Conservation Area it's an almost ideal habitat for them they hunt for mollusks and fish and the spiny cheek crayfish a further new arrival native to America they were released into the odor River in the late 19th century now they're Germany's most common freshwater crustacean [Music] the American immigrant also imported crayfish plague a disease that it itself is immune to [Music] the disease largely exterminated the European crayfish the new arrival from America had free reign it just about managed to get away from the hungry otter who has no trouble finding prey fish is the Otter's mainstay it eats smaller tidbits in the water but if the catch is larger it withdraws to dry land to eat it in peace there's another Hunter on the ring a very vibrant one a kingfisher it's after fish and tadpoles [Music] [Music] this time it caught a small perch [Music] foreign it immediately brings the fish to its nesting Hollow on the cliffs the hungry chicks are already waiting at the end of the self-dug tunnel which is a good meter long they're calling but they're not arguing one grabs the fish the siblings wake patiently a different chick will get a turn with the next mouthful that way they all grow the same they all eat around 10 fish a day now that leaves very little time between catches the rupina land in Northern Brandenburg on the border with Mecklenburg is still a species-rich stretch of cultivated Countryside [Music] it has resisted the changes that come with time more than Germany's other regions in the forests and lakes some of the gaps of the past even close on their own they had disappeared from the stethlean for 250 years now they're back again beavers they were hunted to Extinction a popular Lenten food around 2 000 of them have returned on their own accord from the elb via the hovel into the reen and then to Lake steckling there are several Beaver settlements very close to the lake in the summer they mainly eat leaves the eager architect has built dams and beaver castles known as lodges this is where the young grow up the young are just two weeks old they have fur and can see from birth but they're not ready to go into the water yet it'll be a little while before they come out of the lodge hungrily they await their mother finally she returns from her morning breakfast run the entrance of the lodge is always under water beavers can grow very large weighing up to 40 kilos they can be bigger than deer even though the lodge looks like a mere pile of branches the beavers have smoothed and padded the spacious living area very well the young immediately greet their mother they will stay with their parents until next year when they're bigger they'll watch and learn how to build dams and lodges the mother Beaver carefully dries her fur before she starts feeding her young at the moment they're only getting her milk in one or two weeks they'll leave the lodge for the first time and try fresh herbs the mother will suckle her young for two months her milk is twice as nutritious as cow's milk once they've all found a teat the lodge finally quiets down again they'll soon conquer the conservation area from here [Music] more than 50 species of dragonfly live on Lake Steven including the brown Hawker which lays its eggs in the water [Music] towards the end of summer large Shoals of fish congregate in the Lake's lavish green Pike are lurking for prey foreign but the perch have a trick [Music] if a hunter comes too close they raise their spiked Dorsal fins in defense [Music] Here Comes The Pike [Music] and up goes the Dorsal fins this time the perch loses the fight Autumn is coming the mating calls of the fallow deer can be heard in the menzer forest near Lake steckline in the morning many a stag gathers his strength for the upcoming battles for females raccoons are already growing their winter coat they're searching for food to build up some fat reserves for the cold season Autumn has arrived underwater too the plants break down [Music] Decay the water becomes dull again [Music] fish can't find much cover now [Music] they gather under Fallen trees many withdraw to the depths of the lake [Music] some of the pike follow [Music] it's always been like this in Lake Steven in the constant flow of the seasons [Music] to this day the magical lake has maintained its pristine character [Music] many changes have come its way power station and sewage treatment plants have damaged it and introduced species are making it difficult for Native ones but even so it has still managed to defy all the onslaughts [Music] bedded in extensive forests a rare Oasis of Nature has been preserved here foreign EST lakes in Germany Crystal Clear Lake Station and Brandenburg [Music]

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Id: ovO2TFvJ_h4

Length: 44min 23sec (2663 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 11 2023