Parndorf Heathland
The Parndorf Heathland is situated about 1 km east-north-east of the village centre of Parndorf at the north-western edge of the tableland Parndorfer Platte about 3 km east of the utmost spurs of the Leithagebirge Mountains and about 7 km north of the shores of Lake Neusiedl. It is the remaining part of an old ‘Hutweide’ - once covering a much larger area, a pasture on which shepherds in former times tended all kind of livestock such as cattle or horses. Thanks to a population of European Ground Squirrels living there, 7.45 ha of the area were declared nature conservation area in 1992. The western half of the area comprises sub-pannonic grassland forming the habitat for the European Ground Squirrel.
The eastern part is covered by higher growing dry grassland, again and again the plain is interrupted by rubble hills overgrown with various plants and formed out of material left after the destruction of bunker facilities. Locust forests mark the northern border of this area. The close surroundings of the Parndorf Heathland are characterized by ruderal fallow land, locust reforestations and an industrial park.
Protected Features: