Aischgrund, Protected bird habitat in Forchheim and Erlangen-Höchstadt, Germany.

Aischgrund is the valley of the Aisch, an 83 km left tributary of the Regnitz in Middle and Upper Franconia. The river rises from gypsum karst springs about 1.25 km south of Schwebheim and flows through Bad Windsheim, Neustadt an der Aisch and Höchstadt an der Aisch to reach the Regnitz near Trailsdorf. Its upper course is shallow, barely 1.5 m deep, and widens to 15 m downstream.

The Aisch rises from gypsum karst springs about 1.25 km south of Schwebheim's centre, a site listed as geotope 575Q003. In January 2020 the district office of Neustadt an der Aisch/Bad Windsheim found the spring had dried up after falling discharge; water analyses pointed to the nearby gypsum quarry. Flow resumed in March 2020.

The Aischgrund takes its name from the Aisch, whose name derives from the Lithuanian áiškus, meaning clear; in the 17th and 18th centuries it was written "Aysch". Around 1,500 ponds in the Aischgrund have been used for systematic carp farming since the Middle Ages, and the Aischgründer Spiegelkarpfen, breaded and fried, is a regional speciality known beyond Franconia. The Aischgründer Bierstraße links small and medium-sized craft breweries from Bad Windsheim to Höchstadt an der Aisch along the river.

The Aisch spring, designated Geotop 575Q003, is reached on foot from a car park on the B 13 about 600 m after the junction with the B 470, roughly 1.25 km south of Schwebheim's centre. The spring dried up in January 2020 after a drop in flow, apparently from dewatering by gypsum quarrying to the east, and has flowed again since March 2020.

Historic railway lines have been converted into cycling paths that connect different sections of this reserve. These repurposed routes reveal how old transportation corridors can serve new ecological purposes while preserving local heritage.