Can Germany protect the wildlife havens on its former military bases?

62 former military bases have been turned into nature conservation areas, but they face challenges from careless motocross bikers and unexploded ordnance

Mike Onslow juts out his chin as he scans the deep slug tracks that motorbikes have carved into a 40m-year-old sand dune on the newly-created nature reserve of Borkenberge, his former training camp.

"These 'motocross' guys are causing enormous, irreplaceable damage," the lieutenant colonel says. "When I think about all the environmental protection work that the British army and the German federal authorities have done for this area, it really grips my bits."