The Fascinating World of Deep Reservoir Lakes
the baggage's land in Western Germany is made for dams with 21 of them it holds the record in Europe and offers many animals a new diverse home others have to deal with unusual problems [Music] change is part of the concept in the dam itself as well as for the Damned River a great challenge for all creatures that live here [Music] [Music] the burgess's land is located on the right Bank of the Rhine and includes Three Counties the city of Leverkusen and the remsche zuling and wuppertal City triangle its longest river is the vupa the clouds come from the Atlantic Carriage on the slopes of the burgish's land [Music] nowhere else in Germany does it rain as much as air [Music] foreign [Music] provides a great abundance of water [Music] around 2000 streams and rivers run through the country above all the Bubba originating in a myth and shrouded Nook in the obab region it is called the Viper for its first 15 kilometers at the start it can develop freely [Music] the Dipper therefore still finds plenty of larvae to feed its hungry brood the grass snake likes to hunt in and around clear streams and is an excellent swimmer it is no danger to humans but it is a danger to bird chicks [Music] already on the tributaries of the Viper are the first dams in the vupa drainage basin and the lingazette the reservoir on the lingazi river built in 1899 is one of the oldest in the burgish region its size at full damming 66 soccer pitches more than 130 years ago people began to build dams primarily for flood protection and as drinking water reservoirs in the meantime their area covers about two percent of the burgish Islamic today they are paradisers for many waterfowl [Applause] those who breed at dams however must take care to lay the nest in such a way that it cannot be destroyed by the changing water levels because this happens from time to time white swans bond for life they built their nest together after which mainly the female incubates the eggs cormorants don't mind water fluctuations they fish at depth and breed at height no no no no no no no no no no no tributary enters the lake the water level remains relatively stable and more aquatic plants can persist that's good for the pike which likes to lay its spawn there the predatory fish can reproduce well independently in reservoirs [Music] the adaptable Eurasian coot is almost ubiquitous in reservoirs however the pike does not only hunt fish its neighbor doesn't notice the danger it will take some time until her young hatch with the water of the lingazi the Whipper continues to grow in width in April 2017 a completely different Dam Master suddenly appeared here no one had seen it for around 130 years with its scaly tale Church fathers had once simply declared it a fish making it a fasting food in addition it wears a particularly dense fur another reason why it was hunted until beavers finally disappeared completely in the bagisha region [Music] the largest rodent in Germany is a pure vegetarian young Beach leaves taste particularly good but to get them the beaver has to try hard sometimes [Music] where one Beaver appears the second is usually not far away Beaver pairs Stay Together For Life foreign almost always deposit their droppings in water this applies to small business as well as big business because the entrance to its Lodge should always be underwater the beaver sometimes dams up bodies of water however it almost never builds its Lodge at dams because it's not the beaver that regulates the water level there underneath Viper foot the Nia flows into the river that has since been renamed from Viper to vupa for over 100 years the Nia Dam the size of 95 soccer pitches supplied the city of hermeshite with drinking water in the meantime it only serves to regulate the water [Music] most pairs of swans now have offspring [Music] the mother does not feed her young but shows them how it works but before they can fish such large morsels from the depths some time will pass when the water level is low wading birds find plenty of food in the silt and the gray Heron also finds plenty of food when the fish have to move closer together its nest is well filled and the hungry gang with the Mohawk hairdo is constantly expecting supplies gray herons have now conquered almost all the country's reservoirs for them they are simply well-filled pantries there's something else that makes the Nia Dam attractive for the herons it is surrounded by Forest ideal for a bird that breeds in large colonies and trees there is enough space for all of them gray herons are among the most common fish Hunters on the lake [Music] due to the dams the water level of the vupa usually remains quite constant apart from extreme weather conditions indirectly benefits the beaver family [Music] at four weeks the young leave the Barrow for the first time but still cling closely to their mother [Music] foreign [Music] the little ones can swim right from the start but they first have to learn to dive and like almost everything the best way to do that is by imitating [Music] later they will be able to stay underwater for up to 15 minutes foreign [Music] the same applies to feeding like the old like the young the changeover to plant food is a critical time because the appropriate intestinal Flora must first develop some young animals do not make the transition and die the beaver probably once gave its name to the bever and its Dam size at full Dam 280 soccer pitches an ideal sailing area there is a lot to discover in the lake which was damned for the first time in 1898. the dam was no longer sufficient to supply the factories along the vupa river as early as the 1930s the old wall was simply flooded and later blown up here there is a water depth of almost 30 meters it is cold dark and dull the ideal terrain for the light shy eel he traveled thousands of kilometers to this hutgaso sea to spawn but this eel will not make it its Journey already ends at the new dam foreign at some point a statue of Jesus watches over the underwater world [Music] sometimes strange bones are found at the bottom it is The indigestible Leftovers in the remains of this fish a catfish [Music] foreign the Twilight and Night Hunter usually spends the day in rock crevices and this fish has to hide particularly well it's con specifics are usually green gray only rarely do white and thus more conspicuous specimens appear [Music] foreign projections on its mouth the baubles which also have olfactory and gustatory receptors to track down its prey [Music] the white catfish is less well camouflaged than its gray congenus however Europe's largest freshwater fish has hardly any natural enemies apart from Anglers with whom it is also very popular at the Beaverton [Music] foreign [Music] the bird bones and the feces show that not only fish have to be wary of them [Music] time lapse footage reveals that there is quite a bit of commotion at the bottom of the dam Great Pond snails the largest aquatic lunged snails in Europe searched the ground for edibles the snails feed mainly on algae and larger aquatic plants which they graze with their rasping tongue [Music] they also absorb oxygen through the skin but need to go to the water surface to breathe from time to time foreign [Music] muscle on the other hand has gills unlike it the basket shell is one of the introduced species and originates from Southeast Asia the creatures of slowness seem to be protected from almost all dangers so deep at the bottom but the impression is deceptive in particularly dry times such as the summer of 2020 the beaver shrinks to a small stream during prolonged drought which is becoming increasingly frequent even in the rain-fed burgess's land more water has to be released to the vupa via the beaver to compensate for levels and significantly more water evaporates even without any artificial regulation ducks and geese May initially benefit from this they now find plenty of stranded mussels and snails foreign but for these even without hungry beaks there is no chance of survival [Music] sometimes the water gives a view of victims of misfortune the fox examines what is still to be enjoyed from the deer carcass [Music] the nursing mother must not be picky at this time because she needs a lot of energy okay she has a whole Den full of young to care for the large litter may be an indication that there are many mice this is because the adapters adjust the number of their young accordingly [Music] the six weeks old puppies are already curious about everything that moves quite big better retreat quite small but you never know [Music] the reservoirs of its tributaries only indirectly influence the vupa on the first 75 kilometers of the river but they were not sufficient to regulate the water level and so the river itself has also been slowed down in its course for over 30 years the size of the vupatal dam at full daming 318 soccer pitches the morning it'll be lies the fact that the dam has completely changed the character of the river one of the big winners of this change is the cormorant it breeds high in the trees so fluctuating water levels don't bother it much awesome this pair is still building its nest the material transfer is part of the courtship [Applause] next door Family Planning is taken care of Cormorant numbers have increased significantly in Germany's North Rhine West failure in recent decades with the burgisher dams also contributing thank you some neighbors are almost done the parents care for the young birds together and feed them food from the crop an enlargement of the esophagus [Applause] one floor up they are already training for takeoff in times of drought the cormorants hunting ground shrinks even in the large vopatal Reservoir the summer of 2020 large regions of the bagish's land were among the driest in all of Germany [Music] a rare sight because the Kingfisher can't find a suitable perch on the bare Banks however there is enough to hunt the undemanding perch in particular populate the reservoir [Music] in the late 1970s entire Villages had to be abandoned for the construction of the dams and about 750 people lost their homes a special attraction for divers is the sunken bridge near the village of craving Club the oldest vupa bridge ever foreign Ting ground for the young Pike perch in Germany's Waters the largest fish of the perch family it particularly likes to fish in the murky Waters where it sees better than many of its prey fish thanks to a reflective pigment layer in its eye [Music] quite a few relics of long-lost times have survived to this day somewhat off the bridge a male Pike perch watches over its spawn [Music] European perch surround the spawn in the hope of a tasty morsel it can't give up its position for long because it constantly fans the ax with oxygenated flesh water it's brief attacks make little impression on the thieves but then the stressed father gets unexpected support the pike is not interested in the spawn but its mere appearance puts the perch to flight [Music] the fish used the ruins like a natural habitat and sometimes hang their spawn on an old railing the crevices in the wall serve as a substitute for the missing water plants for the catfish to hide 14 dams and thus two-thirds in the baggage's land region are operated by the vupafaband a Panzer dam was built in 1893 and recently restored size at full Dam four and a half soccer pitches this makes it one of the smallest it is connected to the Northwestern arm of the vopatal dam by the panzabar Stream [Music] chengis are now a common sight at reservoirs originally from Africa they spread rapidly along the Rhine into Central Europe starting from escaped Park birds in the Netherlands the shy black stalk is much rarer although it breeds in the forest it likes to fish at the licks since the riparian area set the drinking water barrier are fenced it apparently feels safe rain makes the riparian vegetation Sprout and more is already on the way [Music] just a Roebuck [Music] but the phones don't like the fact that the guy is running after the mother [Music] a little Comfort feels good extreme weather conditions are also becoming more frequent in the baggish's Lunt region where there was dry weather heavy rainfall as in July 2021 is turning Rivers like the Dune into raging tolerance trees lose their grip [Music] Viva family lose their home and not only them more than a million cubic meters of water flow into the vupa reservoir but it is just about possible to discharge the masses in a controlled manner despite this so much still arrives in wuppertal that the water level rises to over 3 meters 50 higher than ever before has also developed into a white water private photos of the small deep Intel Dam show the consequences although the operators lowered the water level in time a flood wave causes quite a lot of damage after 24 hours the heavy rain is gone but the destruction remains here as in many areas of the country the 120 year old Dam has held but further Upstream that of an Anglers Pond broke the water masses were too much for the drainage Channel they told away half the farm and left mud and garbage images representative of much worse damage and Fates over 180 people died in Germany countless lost all their belongings without dams more might have happened in the bagish region too although there was clear criticism that the major operators had not released enough water in time a dilemma because the year before there was only dry mud here which from the operator's point of view argues for holding more water in summer [Music] the hunting ground of the pike has in any case increased drastically between the flooded trees the Ambush Hunter can hide even better [Music] in some places the vupa lives up to its name as the Amazon of the burgish's land it's hard to believe that just a few decades ago it was one of the dirtiest rivers in Germany fish such as salmon and sea trout were completely extinct but since 1993 they have been reintroduced as part of the migratory FISH program committed volunteers regularly check how far the released fish in this case juvenile salmon have grown in the meantime experience has shown that some of the tiny fish will actually be seen again as adults in a few years they breed the sea trout in a hatchery near byenbok stripping the row has long been routine for the helpers the fish are at her knees that have risen from the sea and are caught in the fall by means of Electro fishing the helpers immediately put the fish back into the vupa after stripping them of their spawning products to minimize stress then it's the turn of the males and it soon becomes clear why their seed is also called fish milk mixing is not enough in the following weeks the helpers will have to sort out dead eggs every day to reduce the risk of disease but thanks to care fish usually hatch from over 95 percent of the eggs foreign lies one of the most beautiful and smallest reservoirs in the bagish restaurant the Bayern Borg Reservoir its size 22 soccer pitches [Music] however the sea trout that hatched after 80 to 100 days are not destined for the reservoir they end up in the vupa below the vopatal dam of course because there is no fish ladder there yet with the help of which the fish could overcome it the Bayern Burgers hope that will change soon during the day beavers rarely show themselves outside the burrow for any length of time but the big rodent is so busy repairing its Lodge that short summer nights are not enough time for it only one old animal shows itself in front of the camera did its young not survive the flood disaster foreign of the first Dam water boosted the economy in the baggage's land as the Hilbert's hammer on the lionbach once powered by water reminds us an amphibian feels particularly at home on the Shady damp Banks of streams the rare fire salamander is probably a straggler of one of the most spectacular animal migrations in the burgitious land [Music] in Spring amphibians migrate to small Still Waters and give birth to their young underwater thus they do not spawn like most other amphibians [Music] the tadpole spent four months cavorting in the water breathing through their tufted gills only then are they ready to go ashore [Music] salamanders hath recently become highly endangered also in the baggage's land region their poisonous skin secretions are ineffective against a fungal disease introduced from Asia foreign [Music] turns West towards the Rhine the eschbach flows into it its upper reaches are also damned to form a leg size just under 20 soccer pitches drinking water reservoirs such as the eshbach dam require clean rivers or streams thus Lakes rarely turn a region into an idle but they were created when Nature is still in order [Music] is the oldest drinking water dam in Germany and also the oldest Reservoir in North Rhine Westphalia it started operation as early as 1891. [Music] dragonfly larvae can develop well in the Clean Lake [Music] they spent between one to three years in the water depending on the species the Mosaic damsel fly as a hunter it lies in wait for its prey small Crustaceans mosquito larvae and other small animals and then grabs them at lightning speed [Music] it immediately sorts out the indigestible [Music] old dragonfly larvae have a special mantis some smaller some larger a greatly elongated lower lip and usually folded in [Music] [Music] Pike usually hunt during the day but some turn night into day sometimes it can't be the fear of Anglers as fishing is prohibited in most drinking water reservoirs in addition to their sharp eyes they use their lateral line organ sensory cells that register pressure waves instinctively the small perches keep still thick vegetation benefits both hunters and hunted they can hide better and sometimes one sometimes the other is successful foreign vegetation is absent as is the case in many places and reservoirs it presents far greater challenges to fish the small one can't find a hiding place the big one Blows Its Cover [Music] once missed the whole thing starts all over again a pike is not made for Chasers and if it then raises dust it can only rely on the sight line organ this Forest stream develops further Downstream into the largest tributary of the vopa the dun it too has been damned for almost 50 years size of the reservoir today 660 soccer pitches it is the only one in the region with a thermal regulation system it ensures that the water is not just let into the Dune directly at the bottom as is usually the case because then it's barely warmer than six degrees too cold for many fish large dams usually have pre-dems to hold back impurities since water fluctuations are minimal here birds are particularly happy to settle here some 80 species of breeding birds are set to be here the white swan of course has also long been a native as on almost all dams it lives primarily on aquatic plants which can flourish abundantly in the forebay this inhabitant on the other hand does not really fit the mold an Atlantic sturgeon it happens again and again that non-local fish are released for the pike on the other hand the plant jungle is well suited for laying its spawn [Music] sturgeons like salmon migrate to spawn from the sea to The Rivers where they have hatched however the exposed fish will never be able to follow its drive again already at the next Dam it is over however the pike also has a dam made problem [Music] temperature at the bottom of deep Lakes is often only four to six degrees Centigrade but it needs a water temperature of around 15 degrees to really get into spawning mood this may explain why the pike quartz the sturgeon's favor so persistently [Music] it is very late most females have long since laid their spawn in its distress it now tries its luck with a complete stranger two companions of Fate United without any chance of success [Music] [Music] thanks to the modern thermal plant the situation has improved at least for temperature sensitive fish below the dam in Autumn the dams like the viotage pera show their most beautiful sight foreign it is not only in terms of color that they now change their face The Operators then release more water to be prepared for possible winter floods [Music] at the nayatau dam as in many places the forest is partially left to its own devices foreign [Music] wood provides a good breeding ground for fungi [Music] it is getting a lot quieter at the much frequented Reservoir [Music] all dead trees that still exist here are essential for the survival of many animals [Music] foreign bat is particularly fond of settling near bodies of water it spends the day in tree Hollows only in the late evening it leaves to hunt on the shore of the lick [Music] soon it will start its hibernation foreign [Music] there is a joyful surprise a cup shows itself with its mother in front of the camera and only a little away a second one so at least they have survived the flood disaster perhaps The Young Ones will soon be doing their own flood control too when beavers Dam up streams the water spreads out and flows away much more slowly [Music] most aquatic plants perform photosynthesis in a similar way to those on land when the days get shorter and less light falls into the water quite a few of them therefore also break down the green pigment the weasel has already exchanged its Brown summer fur for the winter fur [Music] an excellent camouflage in the snow but snow always comes later or not at all even in the baggage's land a problem for the small Martin no movement escapes the Castrol and it is fast and agile [Music] it's hoped for prey however is as quick as a fox for dams change is part of the program in times of climate crisis this change is becoming increasingly extreme and yet they are more important than ever and not just for us humans far more than drinking water tanks and water retention basins they have become home to many animals for some now indispensable this is particularly evident during the cold seasons many bodies of water freeze over completely this means no food for waterfowl and less oxygen for fish in reservoirs on the other hand large areas remain free because of the water fluctuations dams completely change a river and not everyone can cope with that but in the meantime they have become very popular with many beings with us humans as well as with quite a few animals uniting Water Management tourism and ecological demands as well as possible is a worthwhile goal after all its dams are among the most valuable Treasures the baggishus land has to offer please [Music] [Music]
2023-03-12 15:41
