Tree personalities on the island of Vilm

The Baltic Sea island and nature reserve of Vilm lies in the bay south of the much larger island of Rügen, it is one of Germany's most remote and tranquil spots. Covering less than 1 km², Vilm is the remnant of a moraine left as the glaciers retreated about 6000 years ago.

Although it is small, the surprising natural diversity and beauty of the Isle of Vilm has attracted hundreds of landscape painters over the last 2 centuries. Most of it is covered in forest that has been undisturbed for decades, and even centuries, with the result that its oak and beech woods are among the most untouched and impressive in Germany, and the island boasts a rich diversity of birds and small mammals. Part of the island – most of Middle Vilm and all of Little Vilm – is strictly closed to all human presence.

 One of the most spectactular and characteristic oaks in the northern part of Vilm - the "double branch oak".

View on the Middle and the Small Vilm with its beautiful, but inaccessible / "forbidden" beach.
Do you see the undulated sandy structures in the bay?

The "lightning strike beech"...

...still sprouting!

Oak and blooming cherry bush living in harmony near the north-eastern beach.

The elephant.

"Blick zur Insel Vilm", / "View to the island of Vilm", Caspar David Friedrich, 1809.

Lost without trace (?) / missed since 1945.

 View from the island of Vilm to the "white town" of Putbus, Ruegen, especially to the classicist market at the Circus of Putbus on top of the rise and its harbour Lauterbach on the waterfront.