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Reestdal Nature Reserve
Best time to visit
Come in May for the godwit courtship displays and marsh orchids, or on a misty summer sunrise when the fog lifts off the flooded fields. Autumn evenings bring long V-shaped flocks of geese peeling overhead.
Budget tips
Wandering the reserve and its marked walks costs nothing at all. Free parking waits at the visitor center, so the only real expense is a coffee from the farm shop afterward.
Recommended for
Birdwatchers, Nature photographers, Slow walkers, Families
Plan your visit
Half day
About
Quick facts: The meandering Reest river forms a provincial border, so one bank belongs to a different province than the other. Roughly 200 bird species have been recorded across its flooded hay meadows and peat bogs.
Highlights: At dawn in May, the bubbling, whistling calls of hundreds of breeding black-tailed godwits roll over the flooded meadows like a liquid orchestra. Follow the old hollow road and you'll pass the numbered Kei boundary stones, iron-capped markers that have settled provincial disputes for centuries.
Insider tips
- Wear rubber boots or waterproof shoes in wet months, since the meadow paths flood as the Reest rises.
- Bring binoculars and reach the wooden birdwatching screen before sunrise for the strongest dawn chorus.
- Skip the main dike trail on summer weekends and follow the river bend instead, where the birds feed undisturbed.
- Pack insect repellent from June onward, when mosquitoes swarm the damp reed beds.
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