The Eemmeer and Gooimeer were part of the Zuiderzee before the construction of the Afsluitdijk and formed after the reclamation of southern Flevoland in 1968. These lakes form the narrow strip of water between the old land (Noord-Holland/Utrecht/Gelderland) and the new land (Flevoland).
Resting places for birds
In 2009, several islands were created in the Eemmeer for Natura 2000 objectives as feeding and resting places for birds. From north to south, these are called Black Tern, Little Tern, and Common Tern. The islands were made for birds that like to breed on flat, open ground, the so-called bare ground breeders.
Heavily overgrown islands
In 2015 it appeared that the islands were already heavily overgrown and no longer suitable for the birds. In the winter of 2016/2017, the vegetation was removed from the Common Tern and Little Tern islands and they were partially covered with a thick layer of shells.
A shell layer provides multi-year protection against vegetation. Because spoonbills bred on the Black Tern island at that time (2016), the resulting shelter of woody plants on that island was maintained.
Shore restoration and shelter zones
Sjoerd Schellevis, environmental advisor of the Water Framework Directive implementation team of Rijkswaterstaat Central Netherlands: The islands are becoming quite overgrown again. There are not as many bare ground breeders as in previous years. In cooperation with Staatsbosbeheer, we will address the islands next year.
We will remove the low vegetation on the islands, including the roots. On the Black Tern and Little Tern islands, we will lay shells again and place some concrete slabs so that the vegetation stays away longer. We will restore the shores with the existing riprap stones. We do this simultaneously with the construction of shelter zones that will be located a little further in the Eemmeer. This way, we keep the disturbance limited.
