Almost 310,000 people visited the royal castle on the island of Herrenchiemsee in 2023. That’s what the castle administration reported just a few days ago, and based on all the experience of the state castle lords, there were probably about as many excursionists on the island and not in the castle. All these many people will not have been bothered much by the many birds.
On peak days, up to 20,000 water birds are on the move on and around Lake Chiemsee at the same time, as the district office in Rosenheim has just announced. The nature conservation authority is more concerned about whether the many people are disturbing the many birds. The birds bob around on the eastern banks and on almost the entire water surface in the Traunstein district, while the Rosenheim district office is responsible for the western banks and the three islands. However, it has not been able to enforce the ban on entry to the Herreninsel.
From his point of view, that was a misunderstanding anyway. The representatives of the authorities themselves contributed to this by going through the town halls with maps on which, among other things, the entire Herreninsel was colored red – with the exception of the castle and the former canons’ monastery, but including all the paths there. This was also interpreted in the island community of Chiemsee to mean that only birds should enter the Herreninsel.
According to the district office, only the area where visitors would have to stay on the paths and keep their dogs on a leash was marked. And in this interpretation it would have been absurd to exclude the paths. The Fraueninsel, which is also partially colored on the maps, is not part of the bird sanctuary and is therefore not affected by the intended regulations – in contrast to the Krautinsel, which is uninhabited but is not only visited by sheep, especially in summer.
In any case, nothing will be additionally imposed or banned now, because from the beginning they did not want to enact anything against the will of the communities, according to the office, and in view of the red cards, almost all communities have made their unwillingness clear. And no one asked the birds.