One of the oldest airfields in Germany has developed on the site of the parade ground from the beginning of the 20th century. Thanks to the existing poor soil, the small-flowered plants of the rare sandy grassland community have been able to conquer the area. Flocks of sheep keep the heathland short, so the area remains open and wide.

The Hangelarer Heide station is located at a point where a viewing terrace offers a good overview of the so-called "Missionarsgrube", a former gravel extraction site (owned by the Steyler missionaries until the 1960s/70s) and the Bonn-Hangelar airfield behind it. The extraction of sand and gravel left behind numerous pits. A wide variety of animal and plant species have now found a new habitat here. This is a low terrace of the Rhine covered with drifting sands, with alternating wet and lean, dry locations, which provides a habitat for both rare plant and animal species.

Here you can still find near-natural cultural landscape vegetation of heath clove meadows, rough and smooth oat meadows on large contiguous areas. Migratory birds, such as the white stork, as well as year-round resident species such as lapwings, partridges and quails and a large number of rare amphibian, reptile and insect species can be observed in the open areas.