The shore martins fly back and forth on the Noord industrial estate in Meppel. The swallow wall that has been put up there by volunteers of the bird working group Vliegvlug is in full use.
There is room for about two hundred pairs to build a nest. Last year, when the wall was just built, more than a hundred amorous sand martins used it. “This year we will exceed that”, Hilbert Folkerts of the working group proudly says. “I have already counted 113 and you can see at some holes in the wall that swallows are still busy making a nest.” He expects at least twenty more litters to come.
They prove in Meppel that nature and an industrial estate go together. The large gray buildings are surrounded by trees and shrubs. And above the water dozens of birds fly their circle. “We thought that would be nice for the people who work here if they go for a walk. It is also good for nature and you no longer look at those large buildings,” says Folkerts.
For a few years they have been planting trees and shrubs together with the municipality of Meppel. The special species such as wild apple trees and various berries. “You can plant the regular shrubs and trees, but we want berries and flowers. That’s good for the insects and the birds.”
Last year some three to four hundred shrubs were planted behind the sand martin wall. “Look, this one has already finished flowering, it’s blooming now, and the one in a while.” Folkerts points them out enthusiastically. He still has plans. For example, he wants to sow the back of the sand martin wall with a flower mixture.
And the working group has great ambition. “We hope that more municipalities will green their industrial estates. There are plenty of places where this is possible.” However, it is useful that there is something like a water or fen nearby. “If all industrial sites look like this in a few years, that would be fantastic.”