The N206 near Leiden-Zuid carries a steady stream of cars to and from the A4. We work on that N-road, a meter-high machine is drilling holes in the heavy clay soil. Even closer, on a ditch, is a bunch of which a part has been cut down. On the other side of that ditch, new trees have been planted, firmly anchored with a rubber strap on two wooden posts.
The planting forms the heart of the ‘Dierenvoedselbos’. The idea comes from Charlotte Icke-Lemmens (74), who lives in the neighborhood. “When I heard two and a half, three years ago about the expansion plans for the roads in the area, I didn’t think about the noise or the crowds, but what it means for the animals,” she says in the conservatory of her house.
She saw that there would be a fauna tunnel, under the road, from the neighboring Park Cronesteyn to the pasture behind her house. But that was completely overgrown with ryegrass, where almost no animal feels at home. “The hedgehogs, the toads, the moles, the insects, they don’t like that.”
That must be done differently, ICKE-LIMMENS thought. “I went to the municipality with the idea for one animal food forest. ” An animal food forest, she has come up with the term herself, is a forest or grove that is as pleasantly furnished for animals, she says. It must offer them peace, safety and food.
Every forest offers that, for larger and smaller animals, but with the animal food forest that is explicitly the goal. If Icke-Lemmens were in charge, there must come as little people as possible. At the opening of ‘her’ forest in July last year, she told the visitors: this is the last time you are here.
She herself occasionally, also with volunteers, now that everything is being installed and planted. The Dierenvoedselbos is located behind the backyard of Icke-Lemmens. It is a fairly narrow strip, a large part of which is planted with about two hundred fruit trees that are now about three to four meters high: Mispel, wild apple, wild cherry, wild pear. At the end, closer to the N206, higher trees such as oak and poplars come. In addition to and under the trees, bushes and hedges have been planted in which flowers, berries and nuts will grow.
Digging beeburcht and insect hotel.
Photos Dieuwertje Bravenboer
Snake pit
In the area of 8,000 square meters (slightly larger than a football field) there are plenty of attractive places for animals. Lijsters Snakkenhuizen can spread on a few slates. A ‘snake pit’, a deep pit with manure and branches, becomes a breeding ground for the eggs of ring snakes and hazelworms. High trees will offer nesting opportunities for a buzzard. There are ‘hotels’ for insects and hedgehogs. Salamanders and toads can hide under roof tiles, other animals prefer to be in branches, piles of dead branches.
The area still looks bald in the early spring. The trees are small, there are no flowers or fruits on it yet. You will not see any animals now, except a water bird in the adjacent ditch. Only in a few years, when the trees are larger and the fauna tunnel is laid, will it be clear how popular this grove will be for animals. It is certain that there are many more fruit and nut trees than in an average Dutch forest, that can attract birds, insects and rodents.
No baseline measurement has been made of the species and numbers of animals. “That is always possible in the pasture on the right,” says Icke-Lemmens. Nothing has been planted there and the variety of animals is extremely low. Not all biodiversity is immediately visible, she says. “If you used to put a kick in the ground, nothing happened. If you now put a kick in the ground, then it fiddles with life. I see new animal species per week. ”
All animals are welcome here. “I am a romantic, I do not only swing with a field full of butterflies, but also when I see piss beds,” says Icke-Lemmens, who was once in the management of Noorder Dierenpark Emmen. Even the earwigs have been thought of: their accommodations are terracotta pots filled with straw, which hangs in the trees.
Louise Vet, emeritus professor of ecology at Wageningen University and Research, is ‘quite enthusiastic’ about the initiative in Leiden, she says when asked. “Everything is better than a bare or petrified environment,” she says. She thinks it is a good example of the construction of a more varied landscape, “with flora to which fauna will respond.” The surface is limited, but it is important that it will be connected to other areas where animals feel at home. All land must become ‘biodiversity’, says Vet, chairman of it Delta Plan Biodiversity Reflection. “If you have land, then you have a role to play.”
Ramp compensation
Icke-Lemmens was in principle prepared to pay the Dierenvoedselbos itself through its ICKE-LIMMENS Foundation. But you didn’t have to. The province of South Holland turned out to be looking for areas such as compensation for the trees that are cut down when expanding the road between Katwijk and the A4. “For that, huge numbers of trees have been cut down,” says Icke-Lemmens.
The municipality of Leiden made the land available. The Water Board paid the construction of a nature -friendly bank, 11,000 euros. Funds subsidized the purchase of materials for volunteers. And many people cooperated free of charge. Her husband, astronomer and artist Vincent Icke, made drawings for the website and he worked the boxes in which the tool is stored.
Amphibian hotel and hay rider.
Photos Dieuwertje Bravenboer
Other initiatives
Near the Icke-Lemmens house are two pieces of forest under construction that are also more or less intended as ‘animal food forest’. At the Garden of the Smid catering establishment, in Park Cronesteyn, a meadow is planted with holly and birch in straight lines and in between other trees and shrubs. It must become a ‘Bird Food Forest’, says Antje Kuijt, leader of ‘Team Garden’ of the Garden of the Smid. She doesn’t know exactly which birds are going to settle here. Animals will not get full rest here. Part of the plot is intended for a mini campsite, right next to it are a sauna and a hot tub.
A third piece is behind a bed and breakfast on the Vliet, and is also a partly transformed pasture. That ends on a hedge towards the A4 and closer to that highway a somewhat fuller forest. Here too there are more fruit and nut trees that will offer food to animals.
Also in Park Hitlandbetween Nieuwerkerk aan den IJssel and Capelle aan den IJssel, a small animal food forest was laid in December: 2,500 square meters with fruit -bearing trees and shrubs. The idea came from residents, says alderman Rik van Woudenberg (D66) of the municipality of Capelle aan den IJssel. When it was about the future of the area, the term food forest fell, where it was unclear whether it was the human or animal variant. Animals were chosen, says Van Woudenberg, that was easier to realize, also “in view of the investments.” An animal food forest is cheaper and easier to manage than a food forest for people. Here the animals harvest themselves, for example.
Van Woudenberg will foresee this in a few years, if the trees and bushes have grown what has grown, “Nature Information” can be given to children here. Animals will not find full tranquility here either, in the recreational area with a parking lot, allotment gardens and a playground nearby. Van Woudenberg sees the forest as a step in the development of what was once a uniform area, “with one kind of tree”, to a place where nature and recreation go more together.
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Small fauna
The following applies to these animal food forests: there are no elaborate ecological plans with target species. Charlotte Icke-Lemmens has asked Leiden University whether he wants to investigate what is happening in the field. The university referred her to a commercial ecological agency. She does not put any energy and money into it for the time being.
In Park Hitland they focus on small fauna, says alderman Rik van Woudenberg. “Hares, rabbits, hedgehogs, mice, insects, bees and butterflies and birds from the forest next to it that can find some extra food here.”