5. Alde Feanen (To view location on itinerary map click here)
Map taken from the It Fryske Gea Handbook
General
Alde Feanen is a 2,500 hectare wetland located around the village of Earnewâld about 20 km north of the town of Heerenveen, in the province of Friesland, to the north of the Netherlands. Being the place from which Friesian cattle come, it is no surprise that farming in Friesland is a landscape of predominantly dairy farms. Friesland has a unique European language and culture within the Kingdom of the Netherlands (click for more info).
The main uses of the area by man have been peat digging, reed cutting, farming, fishing and hunting. The area can be characterised as a low-lying area of peatland surrounded by wet meadows, lakes, reedbeds and grassland. Alde Feanen was formed by the response of the natural wetland system to the actions of peat diggers and famers. The site has a long and complex history of management by man. Drainage for agriculture and small scale peat cutting (for fire fuel) probably started in the 17th century, gradually intensifying as draining, digging and drying methods evolved to cover larger areas through the 18th century. Gradually areas were poldered and reclaimed to grassland, whilst other lower lying areas formed large bogs and areas of open water. The last large area to be poldered was 'De Hege Warren' - an area of 400 hectares - in 1939.
Traditionally the management of the meadows was opportunistic, hay cutting and grazing. However, as with much of the Netherlands, farming has changed almost beyond recognition. Farm sizes in the area are now, on average, in excess of 120 diary animals, usually highly productive Holstein cattle rather than the traditional Friesian cattle.
Much of the area is designated as an internationally important wetland wildlife site, and is managed on behalf of the people of the Netherlands, by the Friesian wildlife charity known as "It Fryske Gea". Land within the wildlife site that is not owned by the state is under management agreement.
The waterways of Friesland are one of the most popular areas of rural tourism in the Netherlands and the village of Earnewâld has been developed to capitalise on this. A new tourist and housing development has been built across the water from the old village in an area that could have been managed for wildlife. There is a delicate balance between farming, economic development and nature conservation. Consequently the area is in the process of being designated as a National Park in order to maintain this delicate balance whilst addressing the interests of all stakeholders in the area (click for the National Park Website).
Wildlife
The botanical interest of the site is exceptional and there are many species rich, traditionally managed hay meadows at the site. Plant species present include marsh gentian Gentiana pneumonanthe and meadow thistle Cirsium dissectum. The area is important for breeding, staging, moulting and wintering birds. Nesting species include black necked grebe Podiceps nigricollis, little grebe P. ruficollis, cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo, purple heron Ardea purpurea, great bittern Botaurus stellaris, greylag geese Anser anser, gadwall Anas strepera, wigeon A. penelope, garganey A. querquedula, shovellor A. clypeata, pochard Aythya ferina, marsh harrier Circus aeruginosus, water rail Rallus aquaticus, spotted crake Porzana porzana, black tailed godwit Limosa limosa, snipe Gallinago gallinago, corncrake Crex crex, black tern Chlidonias niger, common tern Sterna hirundo, a range of warblers Acrocephalus spp, bearded tit Panurus biarmicus and penduline tit Remiz pendulinus. Amongst species occurring outside the breeding season are spoonbill Platalea leucorodia, Bewick's swan C. columbianus bewickii, greylag goose Anser anser, white fronted goose A. albifrons, a range of duck species, lapwing Vanellus vanellus, dunlin Calidris alpina, whimbrel Numenius phaeopus, black tailed godwit Limosa limosa and corncrake Crex crex.
Wintering
lapwing on grassland at Alde Feanen
Flower rich meadow at Alde Feanen
Alde Feanen was a site used for the reintroduction of the white stork Ciconia ciconia to The Netherlands. Captive birds were released at the site a number of years ago, and have bred successfully. Although the previously captive birds do not migrate themselves, preferring to stay at the feeding stations, their offspring do head south for the winter.
Alde Feanen was the last known locality for the otter Lutra lutra in the Netherlands; it is thought to have become extinct in 1988.
Management of the Site
It Fryske Gea is a non governmental organisation and charity focussed on the management of Friesland's wildlife. It employs around 65 people and is funded by members and donations, as well as through national and provincial government in the Netherlands. Much land purchase and land management is funded directly by government sources. As well as managing 19,000 hectares of wildlife sites, It Fryske Gea is involved in public education and playing both an advisory role to, and lobbying, governments and political parties, on issues relating to landscape, water management and wildlife. In its' role as a land manager, It Fryske Gea keeps Exmoor Ponies and Highland Cattle to graze sites in the east of the province, and works with over 300 farmers elsewhere.
At Alde Feanen, a team of 10 full-time staff and 5 government paid trainees manage 1,500 hectares of the 2,500 hectare wetland wildlife site. The remaining 1000 hectares is privately owned and managed under 'land maintenance agreement' with the government. The organisation does not keep any of its own stock at Alde Feanan, managing most of the grassland by cutting it themselves and then allowing farmers to use the after grass, or by letting it under licence to local farmers. When land is let, the licences are drafted to ensure that action can be taken if a grazier is neglecting to manage the land. This enables It Fryske Gea to employ contractors to undertake the necessary topping, baling or ditching works and charge the invoices to the grazier.
As the Alde Feanen team have a good range of equipment and take a pragmatic and positive approach to their work. A good proportion of the land that they manage is on islands and so their equipment includes boats used for transporting machinery and bales.
Click to view images of some of the 'It Fryske Gea' machinery at Alde Feanen
It Frykse Gea have become experts at hay making; selling between 800 and 900 tones of ha annually. They have a large area to get around and so their success with this varies from year to year. Most of the hay meadows are generally well guttered, with one gutter every two runs of the tractor as illustrated below.
Hay cutting could be undertaken 1 June, 15 June or 1 July and is dependant on the presence of ground nesting birds. There is very close communication with volunteer ornithologists regarding the presence and whereabouts of ground nesting birds. This is of particular importance in relation to land let out to farmers by the organization, where corncrake or other birds are known to be nesting.
The organization has a small baler and makes a combination of large and small bales. The small baler, fitted with low ground pressure tyres, is particularly useful in the smaller low lying fields. No organic fertilizer, manure or herbicides are applied to the land and all weed control is mechanical. Fields dominated by rushes are not so highly valued by farmers or the conservationists and so efforts are made to control the rush by regular topping. Lime is applied to some fields in order to reduce pH from 4.3 to 4.7 with the aim of increasing numbers of soil invertebrates. This is done in some of the areas that are important for ground nesting birds.
Staff at It Fryske Gea were not aware of any problems with parasites or weed toxicity and no problems had been reported with with either the hay or grazing cattle. In fact, on the contrary, I was told that the local dairy farmers value the fodder from the species rich hay meadows for animal health reasons. They blend it with the intensive silage feeds to act as a mineral and fibre supplement. As well as the animal health reasons, farmers are keen to take land at a low rent from It Fryske Gea because it assisted them in meeting their nitrate balance levels related to the extensification payment system.
Arable Interest
One of the interesting relationships between a conservation manager and a land owner is that between 'It Fryske Gea' at Alde Feanen and an organic arable farmer some 35 to 40km away. It Fryske Gea have had problems finding farmers to graze some of the large area of island meadows that they have and the organic arable farmer requires a good supply of farmyard manure to fertilise his arable business. He has purchased a herd of Gasconne cattle which are kept on the islands at Alde Feanen during the summer, when he is busy with his arable business. During the winter the animals are kept in cattle sheds on his farm, where they provide the organic nitrogen required for the arable business. The farmer also has a sideline direct-selling organic beef.
Gasconnes cattle on the islands at Alde Feanen
One of the issues with the island meadows, which are water logged during the winter, is the dominance of yellow loosestrife Lysimachia vulgaris within the grassland. Though not enormously palatable, the cattle do not seem to be bothered by it.
Yellow loosestrife dominating and area of the islands
Within the site the hydrology is enormously complex as there are many individual polders with their own unique hydrological characteristics. There is sand underlying the peat across much of the area and so ground water percolates through to the surface in some areas which can remain almost permanently wet.
Farm Visits
Whilst visiting Alde Feanen I undertook several farm visits. At the first meeting I was accompanied by an employee of "Wetterskip Lauwerswalden", the Netherlands' equivalent of the Environment Agency - with overall responsibility for water level management and drainage. The meeting was with a local farmer who manages in excess of 140 Holstein cattle; most of which are kept comfortably in large ventilated sheds where there are milking robots. Only a few animals are grazed as a means of managing the swards. The land is under-drained and cut as early as possible for silage. It may be possible to make 4 or 5 cuts in a year in this kind of situation.
Being on a peat soil, the land has shrunk considerably through oxidization and compaction following the drainage; and although the land does not appear to be sinking any further, the farmer has the problem that water no longer passes easily through the soil to the drains. The land is also breaking up and becoming uneven, making it difficult to manage.
In an effort to try and ameliorate the problems the farmer is a part of a pilot scheme which pays him to hold higher water levels on his land during the winter months. The farmer is paid to reduce the freeboard (ie the height from the top of the ditch bank to the water surface) from 80cm to 40cm. The farmer is becoming increasingly tired of having to level the land and is thinking of reinstating some ditches and surface gutters in order to encourage rewetting of the land.
My second visit was to meet a farmer who's son was considering the possibility of moving to Poland to farm as he felt there was no possibility of starting a new farming business in the Netherlands. The farmer explained much to me about his business and the subsidy system in the Netherlands. He had diversified, and had a small camping and caravan park. He also made cheese and sold it to both locals and tourists. He explained that he did not grow maize as it is cheaper to purchase from farmers who, for historic reasons, receive a subsidy for it production. He explained that he took land from "It Fryske Gea" as this assisted him with reaching his nitrate balance levels. In the area where he takes land it is favourable for the farmers to apply farm yard manure to some fields and so a large clay bunded manure stock pile area has been built. This enables the farmers to store manure with much reduced risk of it polluting the freshwater of the ditches and rhynes. The farmers union would like the opportunity for syndicates of farmers to be funded to manage wildlife rich land that is subjected to high water levels, in the same way as NGOs such as 'It Fryske Gea' are funded.
There is money available to farmers for agri-environment payments but this is generally focussed on syndicates who collective bids together for schemes to protect landscapes in special areas. There are currently no such schemes that pay farmers for managing very wet grassland areas.
Most of the farmers who have been bought out by the state at Alde Feanen have either retired, or moved north to be relocated on clay soils, where it is much easier to farm intensively.