The present invention relates to a bucket wheel excavator whose bucket wheel is rotationally drivable and is supported at a pivotable bucket wheel boom and to a method of controlling such a bucket wheel excavator. In accordance with the invention, a mass flow and/or material flow adopted on the removal conveyor after a specific advance on the pivoting of the bucket wheel at the predetermined pivot angle speed is/are determined over the pivot angle, a desired mass flow and/or volume flow is/are specified on the removal conveyor, and then the previously specified pivot angle speed is automatically corrected using the determined mass flow and/or volume flow and the specified desired mass flow and/or volume flow to then perform the pivot cycle at the corrected pivot angle speed of the bucket wheel.