Cultural Terraces in Ödenkirchen

Ödenkirchen is located in the Bohemian Forest in the north of Upper Austria and is interesting for its strange-looking fields.

These are laid out in sometimes only ten-metre-wide, elongated strips. In between are ecologically valuable field margins overgrown with bushes and trees.

In addition to shrubs - hazels throughout - birches and aspens grow on these field margins, which have to be pruned extensively by the farmers because of their rapid growth. Slopes between the individual strips of land give the landscape its terraced character. Birds such as the lark and the red-backed shrike thank man that this small-scale landscape has been preserved despite labour-intensive cultivation. In summer, hikers always find the bright blue cornflower in the fields.