Holland and nature ?

In this region east of Amsterdam, a great variety of landscapes are within easy cycling range. Each one with its particular fauna and flora.

This exeptional variation is due to the location and history of the region.
A lower part where sea and rivers rushed and flooded, depositing sand and clay in an ever changing and very dynamic landscape. In these lowlands lakes and moors. And the rivers, now tamed with dikes, meandering through pastures and some remaining peat lands.
Birdlife can be pretty spectacular here, so bring your binoculars !

But there's also a higher part, formed by glaciers of the last Ice Age. Low sandy hills with moraine remnants, pebbles and boulders. Covered with woods, and heather plains where herds of deer roam.
So, still plenty of nature around. But original nature ? No, not really.
Man started changing the land very early in time, and changed the landscapes beyond recognition.
So what we see today is mostly man-made nature. But as most of it is at least several hundred years old, it developed a beauty of its own.

History continues on page > Millennia, a travel in time.