Lasse -Marc Riek

Germany’s only ocean island is a singular place in various ways. Situated 70 kilometers from the coast line, it belonged to the UK for 90 years during the 19th century. During World War II, the first facilities for a huge naval base were erected. The tunnels and bunkers from that time were blown up in 1947. In the following years, the island served as a training area for British bombers. It is not know how the birds have survived this period of destruction. Yet, by the return of people to the devastated island in 1952, it had become more quiet for them, too. More than 370 different species have been counted since then, even though only few of them do actually breed in the island. Nevertheless, Helgoland is among the spots in Europe, that is most densely populated by birds. Within Germany, it is also the only place populated by marine birds like Common Murre, Northern Gannet, Northern Fulmar, Razorbill and Black-legged Kittiwake. Today, ornithologists can approach the cliffs and caves, were thousands of birds breed, directly through the old tunnels. Lasse-Marc Riek was allowed to use these tracks in order to …(Stefan Militzer)