On Sunday 8 March, the nature guides of IVN Mark & Donge organise a walk through the polder and over the dykes in cooperation with children's farm Parkhoeve and Werkgroep Lage Vuchtpolder.

The Vuchtpolder must once have been a wet place, because both the upper and lower parts were named Vucht, an old form of damp. In times of war, this wetness was gratefully exploited: with a single intervention, the area was flooded, making it impossible to navigate and impossible for heavy artillery to pass. The newly constructed redoubts remind us of the siege of Breda in 1624/1625.

The Lage Vuchtpolder was not suitable for habitation or for arable farming. It was so marshy that the grasslands, the beemden, could only be used as hay or pasture. Water birds and waders thrived here.

To obtain more agricultural land, parts of the polder were raised with sand from 1930 onwards. Now this has been reversed and work is being done to wet out and restore nature. The nature will be managed by Emiel Anssems of the organic nature farm Heining & Hoef on behalf of and in cooperation with the Forestry Commission in the coming years. Branded red cattle have been deployed to graze the area. It is hoped that the meadow birds will be able to find the area again.

This early in spring it is still a surprise what we will encounter. Will we be greeted by winter visitors, gawking barnacle or barnacle geese? Possibly spring is announcing itself. Last year, black-tailed godwits were already seen flying overhead on 8 March and redshanks were foraging. The grey heron, mute swan and meadow pipit are always at home. In any case, it is a lot of fun to walk through this Wet Nature Reserve.

We organise this walk together with children's farm Parkhoeve and with the Working Group Lage Vuchtpolder. Organic farmer Emiel Anssems and landscape architect Hans van Engen are part of this.

Registration is possible until the day of the walk. After registration, you will receive information about the departure point.

The walk starts at 10:00 and lasts until about 11:30/12:00.

More information and the registration form can be found on the IVN Mark & Donge website under Activities.