The Strabrechtse Heide is a natural heathland area about 1500 ha in size, located in the municipalities of Heeze-Leende, Someren and Geldrop-Mierlo, in North Brabant, the Netherlands. It is largely under the care of Staatsbosbeheer. In July 2010, around 200 hectares of the area were damaged or destroyed in a wildfire that took over a week to put out. [1]
In the northwest, the Strabrechtse Heide passes into the Braakhuizense Heide, which is owned by the foundation Brabants Landschap. Near Heeze, the healthlands and fields pass into the Herbertusbossen (also owned by Brabants Landschap) and the grounds of Heeze Castle. The area partially falls under the Habitats Directive and the Birds Directive of the European Union. In 2006, the Strabrechtse Heide, along with a part of the valley of the Kleine Dommel stream, was assigned as Natura 2000 area under the Natura 2000 area name "Strabrechtse Heide & Beuven". [2]
The eastern part of the area that lies in the municipality of Someren was originally called Lieropsche Heide, after the village of Lierop. In the nineteenth century, both it and the Strabrechtse Heide proper were part of a larger heathland area between the valleys of the Kleine Dommel and the Aa rivers. Towards the north, the heath extended to Nuenen (there called Molenheide, Collsche Heide and Refelingse Heide). To the south of the road between Heeze and Someren, the Somerensche Heide extended to the Weerterbosch and Groote Peel areas. Around the beginning of the twentieth century, most of the heaths to the north of the Strabrechtse Heide were converted into forest or agricultural land. The construction of the A67 motorway separated the Strabrechtse Heide from the forest area between Geldrop and Mierlo. Plans to construct the A2 motorway to the east of Eindhoven, which would separate the heath from the valley of the Kleine Dommel, were not carried out.
Common Heather and Common Juniper are found in the dry areas, and the more marshy wetlands are home to Erica , Purple Moor Grass, Bog Myrtle and Marsh Gentian. The spread of grass across the area is countered by allowing a flock of sheep to graze, by mowing and sod cutting. The heath area is surrounded by forests. The transition area towards the valley of the Kleine Dommel has several unusual forms of plant life and is also important for many animal species.
On 2 July 2010, a wildfire started in the northern part of the Strabrechtse Heide, after several weeks of hot and dry summer weather. The fire was initially fought by hundreds of firefighters, assisted by 100 more from the Dutch Military. Because of the fire, the A67 motorway had to be closed off for a short period. The roadway was at one point completely covered in smoke and the flames were even able to reach across to the median and then to other side of the road, igniting the dry grass there too in a few places. The fire took several days to master, and over a week to put out completely, and destroyed about 200 hectares of forest and heathland, over ten percent of the total area.
Since April 2012, the Stabrechtse heide has been made a nature reserve specifically for insects. [3] [4]
North Brabant, also unofficially called Brabant, is a province in the south of the Netherlands. It borders the provinces of South Holland and Gelderland to the north, Limburg to the east, Zeeland to the west, and the Flemish provinces of Antwerp and Limburg to the south. The northern border follows the Meuse westward to its mouth in the Hollands Diep strait, part of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta. North Brabant has a population of 2,562,566 as of November 2019. Major cities in North Brabant are Eindhoven, Tilburg, Breda and its provincial capital 's-Hertogenbosch.
Mierlo is a town in the southern Netherlands, in the municipality of Geldrop-Mierlo, North Brabant. Until 2004, it was a separate municipality with an area of 18.09 km2 (7 sq mi).
Lüneburg Heath is a large area of heath, geest, and woodland in the northeastern part of the state of Lower Saxony in northern Germany. It forms part of the hinterland for the cities of Hamburg, Hanover and Bremen and is named after the town of Lüneburg. Most of the area is a nature reserve. Northern Low Saxon is still widely spoken in the region.
A heath is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a cooler and damper climate.
Heeze is a town in the Dutch province of North Brabant. It is located in the municipality of Heeze-Leende, about 9 km southeast of Eindhoven.
The Campine or De Kempen is a natural region situated chiefly in north-eastern Belgium and parts of the south-eastern Netherlands which once consisted mainly of extensive moors, tracts of sandy heath, and wetlands. It encompasses a large northern and eastern portion of Antwerp Province and adjacent parts of Limburg in Belgium, as well as portions of the Dutch province of North Brabant and Dutch Limburg around Weert.
Broadmoor to Bagshot Woods and Heaths is a 1,696.3-hectare (4,192-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Berkshire and Surrey that extend from a minority of the parish of Crowthorne including around Broadmoor Hospital in the west to Bagshot south-east, Bracknell north-east, and Sandhurst, south. It is part of the Thames Basin Heaths Special Protection Area. Two nature reserves which are managed by the Surrey Wildlife Trust are in the SSSI, Barossa nature reserve and Poors Allotment. Broadmoor Bottom, which is part of Wildmoor Heath, also falls within the SSSI; this reserve is managed by the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust.
Thursley Common is a national nature reserve in Surrey, England, and has also been designated as a Ramsar wetland. It is also part of a Site of Special Scientific Interest called Thursley, Hankley and Frensham Commons.
Lowland heath is a Biodiversity Action Plan habitat as it is a type of ancient wild landscape. Natural England's Environmental Stewardship scheme describes lowland heath as containing dry heath, wet heath and valley mire communities, usually below 250 metres (820 ft) in altitude, on acidic soils and shallow peat, typically comprising heathers, gorses, fine grasses, wild flowers and lichens in a complex mosaic. Heathers and other dwarf shrubs usually account for at least 25% of the ground cover. By contrast, upland heath, which is above 300 metres (980 ft) in altitude, is called moorland, Dartmoor being an example.
Hoge Kempen National Park is the first National Park in Flanders, Belgium. It is located in the Campine in the East of the Province of Limburg, between Genk and the Meuse River Valley. It includes the elevated ground that defines the watershed between that river and the low ground of the drainage basin of the Demer river that covers most of Belgian Limburg.
The Eindhovensch Kanaal is a canal in the Dutch province of North Brabant. It connects the center of Eindhoven with the Zuid-Willemsvaart. It was dug in the period 1843-1846, commissioned by the town of Eindhoven. The canal is 13.9 kilometers long and runs by a number of Eindhoven industrial areas and the towns of Geldrop, Mierlo and Helmond. The canal runs over the Kleine Dommel and the Goorloop, which are led under the canal by ducts.
De Maasduinen National Park(duinen = dunes) is a national park in the Dutch province of Limburg, founded in 1996 and covering approximately 4500 ha. The landscape consists of forests and heathlands on a sandy plateau along the river Meuse close to the German border. The estate 'de Hamert' is the heart of the park. Until 1998 the national park was called 'De Hamert' after this estate. The present name is derived from the parabolic dunes which date from the last glaciation.
Sutton and Hollesley Heaths is a 483.3 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest south-east of Woodbridge in Suffolk. Most of the site is managed by the Suffolk Wildlife Trust as Sutton and Hollesley Commons. It is part of the Sandlings Special Protection Area under the European Union Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds, and the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Cartierheide is a natural landscape area in the south of the Netherlands in province North Brabant located close to the Belgian border in the natural region called The Campine . On the other side of the border is Belgium's first national park, Hoge Kempen.
Nijnsel is a village in the province of North Brabant, located in the Meierij of 's-Hertogenbosch. Nijnsel is a parish of the municipality of Meierijstad and has around 2,600 inhabitants.
East of the village of Nijnsel and the hamlet of Vressel, both in Meierijstad, North Brabant, Netherlands, is the location of the Vresselse bossen or Vresselsche Bosch . The Vresselse Bossen is a forest area of 241 ha. It is owned and managed by the National Forest Service (Staatsbosbeheer). The forest is named after the nearby hamlet of Vressel.
Thetford Heaths is a 270.6 hectare biological and geological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Suffolk. It is a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade I, and parts of it are a national nature reserve, and a Geological Conservation Review, It is part of the Breckland Special Area of Conservation, and Special Protection Area A large part of this dry heathland site is calcareous grassland, and some areas are grazed by sheep or rabbits. There are several nationally rare plants and an uncommon heathland bird, and many lichens and mosses.
The Kleine Dommel or Rul is a brook in the Campine and Meierij van 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands.
Brabants Landschap, officially Stichting het Noordbrabants Landschap, is one of the 12 provincial landscape foundations in the Netherlands.
Geldrop Castle is a castle with park near the center of Geldrop, North-Brabant, the Netherlands. It is on the edge of the valley of the Kleine Dommel.
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