Flemhuder See

The Flemhuder See is a protected landscape component. After the construction of the Kiel Canal before the First World War, the lake shrank from 230 to just 30 hectares. The dry-lying areas gave rise to flushing fields, which today provide a habitat for rare plant and animal species, such as orchids and over a hundred different bird species.

Like Westensee, Lake Flemhuder See was originally a lake in the Eider River and was called Nordsee. In keeping with the lake's name, there was also a town called Nordsee and a Nordsee estate, which was mentioned in the Kiel town register as early as 1300. In 1509, the estate was divided into the Klein-Nordsee and Groß-Nordsee estates. Lake Flemhuder See remained within the territory of the Quarnbek and Groß-Nordsee estates.On the Holstein Geest, the Eider and the lake lay about seven meters above sea level. The construction of the Eider Canal (1777 to 1784) required the creation of a water reservoir at the crest level to feed the canal. For this purpose, Lake Flemhuder See, fed by the Obereider River, was dredged, dammed, and provided with a weir facing the canal. Lake Flemhuder was located approximately in the middle of the crest section,
that is, between the Rathmannsdorf Lock and the lock in Klein Königsförde,
and stretched south of the Eider Canal in a north-south direction for about three kilometers,
covering a total area of approximately 230 hectares.During the expansion of the Eider Canal into the Kiel Canal (1887 to 1895), the canal level was lowered to approximately sea level. This eliminated the need for a reservoir to maintain the crest. Lake Flemhuder thus lost the purpose it had been intended for just a hundred years earlier. The lake was connected to the new canal and also lowered to sea level. The Eider continued to flow as before, now over a weir into the lowered Flemhuder Lake.However, with the lowering of the lake level, there were fears that the groundwater level would also drop. To ensure the necessary irrigation of the surrounding area, a ring canal was planned around the lake area, in which the original water level of
6.50 m above sea level was to be maintained. Due to the adverse ground conditions, the ring canal could only be built on the south and east sides.However, to ensure a navigable connection between the towns of Achterwehr and Flemhude and the Kiel Canal, the eastern part of the ring canal was widened in 1913 to form the Achterwehr Shipping Canal, into which the Upper Eider River flows, thus eliminating the weir on Lake Flemhude.wikiwand.com/de/Flemhuder_See

Nice place for a little break by the lake.