Tour Destination in Netherlands

NETHERLANDS;

Area: 41,080 square kilometres (Land);

TOUR DESTINATIONS IN NETHERLANDS;

• 1. HET NAARDERMEER(NETHERLANDS);
• Establishment: 1906. One of the most important ornithological reserves of Europe, covering an area of marshes surrounding a lake with a surprisingly rich representation of southern bird species despite its northern location. It is a pearl of a wetland in a country composed chiefly of cultivated lands and polders. Saved from exploitation by a nature conservation society in 1906, This reserve, the oldest in the Netherlands, successively launched the movement to conserve and to protect nature in Holland.
• Geographical location: About 15 km SE of Amsterdam, on both sides of Amsterdam – Hilver sum railway.
• Size: 751 ha.
• Climate: Moist Atlantic type: rainy summers, Mild winters.

TOPOGRAPHY; The Naardermeer is one of the Netherland’s few freshwater lakes of natural origin. Drained in 1623-1629, the area was desiccated but shortly afterward was restored for military reasons. Drained again in 1883 -1884, two years later its waters reconquered the area.

In 1905 there were new exploiting schemes underway, but public reaction saved the area from further exploitation.

FLORA: Habitats of aquatic, marshy, and riverine vegetation form expanses of open water, swamps, and woodlands with species of orchids, mosses, and fungi.

BIRDS: Its bird colonies have made Naardermeer famous. Spoonbills (350 pairs) and purple herons (150 pairs) occur here at one of their northern most sites in Europe. Their isolated occurrence here may be related to an earlier long association with this part of Europe when Holland was rich in wild marshes.

Among breeding aquatic birds, cormorants are the most numerous and in winter are joined by thousands of ducks and coots. The bittern, black tern, and Marsh harrier should be mentioned. The rare bearded tit occurs here.

• 2. TEXEL ISLAND NATURE RESERVE( NETHERLANDS );

Texel (Pronounced Tessel), southern most of the Friesian islands , is a land of beaches and dunes with interesting communities of plants and animals.

There are three nature reserves on the island:

• 1. De muy or Binnen- en Buiten Muy en slufter (800 hectares in north western part)
• 2. De Geul en wester duinen (1,681 hectares in the south western part).
• 3. Schorren achter de polder Eendracht of Texel (3,000 hectares in the north eastern part of the island).
• Geographical location: Just north of Den Helder
• Size: 5,481 ha (Total for the three reserves)
• Climate: Rainy summers, mild winters.
• Accessibility: By train or car from Amsterdam to Den Helder; then by ferry to Texel

GEOLOGY: Texel is part of a girdle of islands dividing the waden see from the North Sea that probably once formed the coastland of continent. During the post – glacial period the level of the sea rose and repeatedly invaded the land. Sea and winds are still shaping the landscape.

FLORA: Moving inland from the beach, dunes with Marram grass are first encountered, then Calluna heaths, then grassy bushland with sea buckthorn, brambles, elder, and creeping willow; then small reedy lakes surrounded by dunes, planted pine woods, and plains grazed by sheep; then groves of deciduous trees, chiefly alder and maple.

MAMMALS AND BIRDS: Dune lakes: these are most interesting of all the great variety of environments because  they are the haunt of spoonbills, which nest in elder bushes, and of herons, mallards, and teal. Montagu’s harriers and Marsh harriers also breed in the vicinity.

Beaches: Animal life on the beaches includes the presence of the common (harbor) seal, which sometimes creeps up onto the sand reefs. This seal is greatly in need of protection, and the Dutch have thoughtfully provided a reserve between Texel and Vlieland (20,000 ha) for it. Birdlife of the beaches includes three European species of sandpipers- ringed plover, and Kentish plover.

Other  characteristic birds: gray heron, sandwich tern, common tern, black- headed gull, herring gull, shelduck, eider, kestrel, avocet, oystercatcher, lapwing, curlew, black- tailed godwit, redshank, stock dove (breeding in sand holes), turtle dove, and short- eared owl.

OTHER VERTEBRATES: Include natter jack and moor frog.

• 3. DE HOGE VELUWE NATIONAL PARK(NETHERLANDS);
• Establishment: 1935. A partly fenced area of woodlands, heaths, and dunes; a few lakes. Owned and administered by a foundation, which also owns the famous Kroller Muller Museum at Otterlo (van Gogh’s paintings) situated in the park.
• Geographical location: Between Apeldoorn and Arnhem, province of Gelderland, 80 km from Amsterdam, 110 km from the Hague.
• Size; 4,490 ha.
• Climate: Moist Atlantic type; rainy summers, mild winters.

GEOLOGY AND TOPOGRAPHY:

• Sand deposits and drifts characterize this flat and low- lying area. Some lakes and Marshes.

FLORA: A mosaic of woodlands, mainly pine and beech, with heather, and grassy steppelike areas.

MAMMALS: Roe deer, Red deer, mouflon (introduced in 1921), wild boar, foxes, badgers, and martens. This is the only park in the Netherlands that has a population of wild boar.

BIRDS: The hobby is perhaps the most remarkable of the breeding birds. The osprey and the white- tailed (sea) eagle appear as winter visitors.

• 4. VELUWE RANDMEREN EN HET ZWARTEMEER(NETHERLANDS);
• Establishment: Established after worldwar II.
• Geographical location: Near the town of Kampen, SE and E of the Ijsselmeer.
• Size: Zwarte meer; 1,500 ha. Veluwe Randmeren: 5000 ha.
• Climate: Moist Atlantic type; rainy summers, mild winters.

GEOLOGY AND TOPOGRAPHY:

• The reserves were once coastlands of the former zuyder zee, and as such they are very shallow with the exception of certain manmade channels. Zwarte meer has an open passage to the Ijsselmeer.

FLORA: Veluwe Randmeren shows various degrees of colonization by vegetation, but in Zwarte meer the process of vegetal expansion is different because the many currents prevent the water from becoming stagnant.

BIRDS: In autumn, winter, and spring, hundreds of thousands of waterfowl visit the areas, passing through on migration, or spending several months during mild winters. Ducks, particularly, congregate in tens of thousands; mallards dominate but there are also numerous pintails , teal, wigeons, garganeys, shovelers, tufted ducks, pochards, scaups, and golden eyes.

Also occurring in thousands; mute swans, Be wick’s swans, pink footed geese, white fronted geese, greylags, and coots. Other wintering or resting birds include herons, bitterns, terns, gulls, and waders.