Spargründe bei Dohna, Nature reserve in Dohna, Germany

Spargründe bei Dohna is a 37.3-hectare nature reserve made up of two nearly parallel valleys, the Kleiner Spargrund and the Spargrund, which cut west from the Müglitztal. The Spargrundbach and Schindergraben meet between the Vogelherd ridge and a rock spur where stonecutters once quarried granodiorite. Lower slopes carry dense, shady beech and oak forest; higher up, the canopy opens over narrow streamside meadows.

The two valleys were shaped by the Müglitztalbahn railway: in the 1930s the line was moved onto the western slope of the Müglitztal, and from the embankment down to the Müglitz the Sürßenbach and Spargrundbach were laid underground. Stonecutters once quarried Dohna granodiorite from a rock spur blocking the valley. The 37.3-hectare reserve lies within the FFH area Müglitztal.

The two valleys are named after the Spargrundbach stream; the Kleine Spargrund is formed by the Schindergraben. At the lower entrance, near the railway underpass on a bend of the road from Sürßen, an information board explains the protected area, and a second board stands a few steps further on at the Spargrundbach.

A network of two circular walking routes provides access throughout the reserve, with the entrance located across from the former castle mill behind the railway bridge. The trails remain passable in all seasons, though wet ground conditions can occur after rainfall.

The rock here is Dohna granodiorite of Cadomian age, reddish to grey and mostly medium-grained; stonecutters once quarried it on the rocky spur where the two valleys meet. Because the crystalline bedrock has few fissures, the area is poor in groundwater, so the small streams carry little water.