Elbbach

The first part of the name “Elbbach” has an etymology like that of the Elbe, a major river in Central Europe whose name derived from the Latin Albis meaning “river”. And, the German word for “stream” is “bach”, a common suffix for German rivers.[5]

In the latter part of its route, through the state of Hesse, the Elbbach flows through the nature reserve "Elbbachtal". This protected area follows the course of the river over approximately 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) from the state border to the city of Hadamar. The boundary of the reserve is usually close to the river, which means that the reserve covers only 84 hectares (210 acres) despite its long distance. The official short description and justification of this protected area is: "Near-natural watercourses with brook-riparian riparian forests, high-altitude meadows, wet meadows, freshwater meadows, reedbeds and floodplains. Vegetation valuable from both botanical and faunistic point of view, habitat of numerous rare and endangered species of flora and fauna, of particular importance for running waters, locally significant bird breeding area."

Further along this river’s course is the nature reserve "Kalksteinbruch bei Hadamar" comprising 9.8 hectares (24 acres), and the area "Elbbachaue east of Elz" comprising 49.1 hectares (121 acres). The latter area consists of two sub-areas of wet meadow, which is particularly important because of the occurrence of the dark and the light-colored butterfly called the Scarce large blue.