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German Bight is the south-eastern
bightIn geography, bight has two meanings. A bight can be simply a bend or curve in any geographical feature—usually a bend or curve in the line between land and water....
of the
North SeaThe North Sea is a marginal, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf. The Dover Strait and the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Sea in the north connect it to the Atlantic Ocean. It is more than long and wide, with an area of around...
bounded by the
NetherlandsThe Netherlands is a country in Northwestern Europe, constituting the major portion of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east...
and
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
to the south, and
DenmarkDenmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe and the senior member of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries; southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and it is bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark borders both the Baltic and the North Sea...
and Germany to the east (the
JutlandJutland , historically also called Cimbria, forms the mainland part of Denmark. It has the North Sea to its west, Kattegat and Skagerrak to its north, the Baltic Sea to its east, and the Danish-German border to its south...
peninsulaA peninsula is a piece of land that is nearly surrounded by water but connected to mainland via an isthmus. Word origin: Latin paenīnsula : paene, almost + īnsula, island.A peninsula can also be a headland, cape, island promontory, bill, point, or spit....
). To the north and west it is limited by the
Dogger BankDogger Bank is a large sandbank in a shallow area of the North Sea about off the east coast of England. It extends over approximately , with its maximum dimensions being about from north to south and from east to west...
. The bight contains the
Frisian||-||-||-||-||-||-||-||-||-||-||}The Frisian Islands, also known as the Wadden Islands or Wadden Sea Islands, form an archipelago at the eastern edge of the North Sea in northwestern Europe, stretching from the north-west of the Netherlands through Germany to the west of Denmark...
and
Danish IslandsThe Danish Wadden Sea Islands are a group of islands on the western coast of Jutland, Denmark. They belong to the new region South Denmark since January 1, 2007...
. The Frisian islands and the nearby coastal areas are collectively known as
FrisiaFrisia is a coastal region along the southeastern corner of the North Sea, i.e. the German Bight...
. The southern portion of the bight is also known as the
Heligoland BightThe Heligoland Bight is the southern part of the German Bight, itself a bay of the North Sea, located at the mouth of the Elbe river. Named after the Heligoland Island, it was the location of the naval Battle of Heligoland Bight. In 1939 it also had the aerial battle Battle of the Heligoland...
. Between 1949 and 1956 the
BBC Sea Area Forecast (Shipping Forecast)The Shipping Forecast is a four-times-daily BBC radio broadcast of weather reports and forecasts for the seas around the coasts of the British Isles. It is produced by the UK Meteorological Office and broadcast by BBC Radio 4 on behalf of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency...
used "
HeligolandHeligoland is a small German archipelago in the North Sea.Formerly Danish and British possessions, the islands are located in the Heligoland Bight in the southeastern corner of the North Sea...
" as the designation for the area known as the German Bight.
Popular culture
In the book
A Kestrel for a KnaveA Kestrel for a Knave is a novel by British author Barry Hines, published in 1968. It is set in Barnsley, Yorkshire and tells of Billy Casper, a young working class boy troubled at home and at school, who only finds solace when he finds and trains a kestrel whom he names "Kes".The book was made...
and its film version,
KesKes is a 1969 British film from director Ken Loach and producer Tony Garnett. The film is based on the novel A Kestrel for a Knave written by the Barnsley-born author Barry Hines in 1968...
, the shipping forecast is featured in the classroom register roll call when lead character Billy Casper calls out "German Bight" after the teacher reads out the name of a pupil called Fisher. (Author
Barry HinesBarry Hines, FRSL is a British author who has written several popular novels and television scripts.-Early life:Born in the mining village of Hoyland Common near Barnsley, England, he attended Ecclesfield Grammar School. He first worked in surveying and played football...
erroneously has Billy then say that Cromarty follows German Bight.)
Further reading
George Drower,
Heligoland: The True Story of German Bight, Sutton, 2002
[map]
http://www.bing.com/maps/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCP&cp=54.207436~7.602539&style=h&lvl=7&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&encType=1
See also
- Frisia
Frisia is a coastal region along the southeastern corner of the North Sea, i.e. the German Bight...
- Frisian Islands
||-||-||-||-||-||-||-||-||-||-||}The Frisian Islands, also known as the Wadden Islands or Wadden Sea Islands, form an archipelago at the eastern edge of the North Sea in northwestern Europe, stretching from the north-west of the Netherlands through Germany to the west of Denmark...
- Wadden Sea
The Wadden Sea is an intertidal zone in the southeastern part of the North Sea. It lies between the coast of northwestern continental Europe and the range of Frisian Islands, forming a shallow body of water with tidal flats and wetlands. It is rich in biological diversity...