KNNV walking tour through De Vilt

Natuurvereniging KNNV [Royal Dutch Nature Society] is holding a scavenger hunt through nature reserve De Vilt on Tuesday, November 19. The scavenger hunt is guided by naturalist Jan Nillesen and starts at 10 a.m. at the parking lot crossing Moerbaan and Helbroekseweg in Beugen. The parking lot can be reached via the Heiveldsestraat. Please bring your own food and drinks for the picnic. Registration is not necessary. For more infornation please contact Jan Nillesen, phone 0485-574780.

The Vilt is a fossil Meuse meander from the postglacial era. Participants on the scouting tour will visit Omloopberg, Werveld, Kleine Vilt, Niemandsvriend and Haard. Attention includes geology and geomorphology, as well as flora and fauna.
The area includes an old Meuse bend that was cut off from the stream in the centuries between 1000 BC and 9000 BC and as such is unique in North Brabant. Indeed, other Meuse bends were cut off by artificial means in the 20th century.
The Vilt was cut off by natural means. Slowly but surely it filled with peat, which was dug away by man. By 1920, all the peat was gone and there was a large puddle.
The influx of polluted water caused fertilization. The banks became overgrown and the water quality deteriorated. In hot summers, algal blooms broke out in the nutrient-rich water. In 2010, the Aa and Maas water board intervened. The forest was cut down and the lake dredged. Since then nature has rebounded. Birds like to stop there on their migration north or south.