Slides

Holland and nature ?

In this region east of Amsterdam, a great variety of landscapes are within easy cycling range. All with a distinctly different fauna and flora.

This exceptional variation is due to the location and history of the region.
A lower part where sea and rivers once rushed and flooded, depositing sand and clay in an ever changing landscape. In these lowlands still lakes and marshes, remains of the peat wilderness. And the rivers, nowadays tamed by dikes, meandering through pastoral pastures : dairy country.
Birdlife can be pretty spectacular here, so bring your binoculars !

For a chronological overview of Dutch history, click here.

Cormorant | Heron & Frog | Stork


But there's also a higher part, formed by glaciers during the Ice Ages. Low sandy hills with moraine remnants, pebbles and boulders. Covered with woods, and heather plains where herds of deer roam. Another face of Holland, one you would not expect.
Even with the 21th century never far away, still plenty of nature around.
But wild nature ? No, not really.
Man started working on the land very early in time, and changed the original landscapes beyond recognition. So hat we see today is mostly man-made nature. But over the centuries, it developed a beauty of its own.

A herd of deer

Regional history continues on page > Millennia, a travel in time.

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