- Heather on Texel, foto fitis, sytske dijksen
Heath family
Heather is beautiful! Most heathlands in the Netherlands were formerly forests that have since been hacked down. The open areas were often depleted in nutrients, particularly calcium, and therefore perfect for heather. Because the tendency nowadays is to preserve this landscape, nature managers take all kinds of measures to prevent forest from returning. In the dry dunes on the Wadden Islands, the climate is too rugged for trees, so heather can usually fend for itself. You can probably say that the only natural heather vegetation in this country is found in these dunes.
- Heathland as a landscape
- , www.fotofitis.nl
The word heather in the Netherlands was used long ago to indicate uncultivated ground with no designated owner. Later on, it became known as commonly owned pasture land. Only since the 19th century does it describe a type of landscape.
Heather and other related plants only flourish on nutrient-poor grounds. Heathland used to be maintained by grazing sheep. The plants were also harvested for making brooms and as fuel. All these actions helped to keep the ground nutrient-poor. However, when harvesting heather more or less ended in the last century, things changed. After World War II, the soil became richer in nutrients through increasing pollution from sulfur and nitrogen emissions. Fortunately, pollution has since decreased tremendously and heather fields are recovering. But it will never be as much as it was.
Of the 450,000 hectares of heather that grew in the Netherlands around 1900, only 36,000 hectares remain. Not only are the fields no longer harvested or grazed, the soil has become too dry and the formerly 'worthless' heathland has often been transformed into 'valuable' farmland.
- Influence on nightjars
- Moth on heather, foto fitis, sytske dijksen
Thanks to regulations for combating overgrowth, heathlands have been recovering and expanding. This has resulted in an increase in the number of moths, which has had a positive influence in the recent success for nesting nightjars in the Netherlands. Nightjars, a bird which is active primarily at night, like to make their nests in transition zones between woods and heathlands. And moths are their most important source of food. In the 1990s, there were 450-600 pairs of nightjars in the entire country. The population doubled in the first decennia of the 21st century. Even Texel had a one-time nesting pair In 2006, the first report since the 1950s.
- Did you know that ...
- rhododendron, foto fitis, sytske dijksen
... blueberries, rhododendrons and azeleas are also members of the heath family?
... and that many plants in this family can only grow when the proper fungi is present in the soil?
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