Including waspsorchidbeesorchid and fragrant nightorchidreedorchid will soon adorn the hayfield in the Zwanenwater. But not now. Now it is still too cold, bare and soaking wet. Forest rangers Lucien and Joris lead a tour of Natural North Holland in the Zwanenwater, which Natuurmonumenten has owned for 50 years this year.
It has been a wet winter. Forest ranger Lucien Knol: “We have now had a few wet years. The drought that you hear a lot about mainly affects the south and east of the country. It has rained a lot here.”
His colleague Joris Duivenvoorden ventures a little further on the water-covered field. For a moment his boots threaten to flood, but it goes just fine. “So close to the coast you have salt seepage water from the sea deep in the soil. But the pools of the Zwanenwater are sweet. Sweet from the rainwater that floats on the salty bottom layer like a kind of bubble.” That’s a lesson in physics: salt water is heavier than fresh water, so fresh water floats on salt water.
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The fresh water is the reason orchids thrive here. “And the sophisticated mowing management,” adds Lucien. “If we don’t mow here and dispose of the clippings, first there will be reeds and then a swamp forest of willows and birches, then the oaks will take over. Gone orchids.”
The clippings are removed to ensure that the soil remains nutrient-poor. Due to a lack of food, many plants cannot grow there, except for orchids and other rare plants that can survive on little food.
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NNH 87 Zwanenwater – NH News
In winter, Zwanenwater is a haven for birds. Many hundreds of waterfowl find shelter on the water and in the surrounding fields. “That’s why the Tweede Water is always closed to the public,” says Lucien. “We ourselves also go there as little as possible. In the breeding season or outside, that part of the Zwanenwater is for the birds.”