The Oschenberg is a 528 meter high mountain near Bayreuth.
In 1418 the mountain was mentioned as "Naschenberg", in 1419 as "aschenberg ob Leneck", and in 1692 as "Oschenberg". The name means Eschenberg, i.e. mountain on which ash stands (Middle High German asch = ash).
It is part of the Obermainisches Hügelland natural area. The highest point on the plateau, which was in the restricted military area until June 30, 2007, reaches a height of 528 m above sea level. NN.
The Bindlacher mountain range, to which the Oschenberg belongs, is made up of layers of the Middle and Upper Muschelkalks (Middle Triassic). These are deposits of a relatively shallow sea that covered Central Europe about 240 million years ago. In the past, the hard limestones of the Upper Muschelkalk were mined in numerous quarries for the production of paving stones. Government councilor Georg Graf zu Münster from Ansbach recognized at the beginning of the 19th century that these quarries were ideal places for fossil excavations. Due to its findings, the Oschenberg became the type locality of the two marine reptile genera Placodus and Nothosaurus.
The vast majority of the mountain is taken up by extensively used, species-rich hay meadows. In terms of plant sociology, the meadows are sage and oat meadows, and maintenance is done alternately by mowing and grazing with a flock of migrating sheep. The southern slope areas form a mosaic of open land areas, field trees, hedges, bushes and forests. A stranger on the slopes is the gray alder that was planted in 1910/1920. [17] The strictly protected species of smooth snake, sand lizard and various types of butterflies have been identified.