The beach at Oranjezon has been awarded Green Beach status: nature is given more room here. Instead of machine cleaning to remove all the debris that washes ashore, volunteers manually remove solely the man-made waste. The seaweed is left and that is a good thing as it is an important food source for small (sea) creatures who are, in turn, preyed upon by birds such as the oystercatcher and plovers. If the beach is quiet enough, these birds even nest on it. Washed-up seaweed also constitutes the basis for dunes. Plants such as sea rocket grow in places where seaweed lies. The plants retain the sand which creates small dunes enabling other plants and animals to live there. The Green Beach provides space for man and nature: a nature preserve humans can enjoy!
Did you know that beaches are nature reserves? Full of plants and animals that can only be found there. As part of the national The Green Beach project, various organisations strive to provide space for nature on Dutch beaches. They do so by creating resting areas for beach life, setting out compulsory routes for suppliers delivering to beach-based businesses, providing information and manually cleaning beaches instead of using machines. And, of course, by monitoring beach life and protecting breeding birds.
Sea rocket is one of the plants regularly encountered on the beach, often on small beach dunes. It retains sand, enabling other plants to grow there and enlarging the small dunes. Sea rocket has wonderful pink flowers that smell great from early summer to autumn. It is an important source of food for many insects.
‘I am a member of the rocket family.’
This small wading bird is rare. There are only a few beaches it can nest on and even there it is often (unintentionally) disturbed. Cleaning beaches manually and protecting nests gives this beautiful bird a chance!
Little terns spend the winter in West Africa and breed in colonies on European beaches. Their nests are inconspicuous: simple depressions in the sand, where they lay their sand-coloured eggs. Little terns are rare in the Netherlands which is why volunteers protect the nests on beaches. With a bit of luck, you can watch them dive into the sea in summer!
‘Shush! I have only just arrived and noise scares me.’
We let seaweed and other natural materials lie because many beach insects live off this, who in turn provide food for beach birds. Beached items also play an important role in the development of new dunes.
Sand fleas aren’t fleas at all, but tiny crustaceans! They play a key role on the beach as they live on seaweed and other natural materials as well as being an important source of food for birds.
When you see birds foraging among the seaweed they could be hunting for sand fleas.
I’ll clean up around here!”
Use the The Green Beach app to catalogue beach life in the Netherlands. Scan the QR code, then fill in which plants, animals or items you spot on the beach.
Green Beaches provide space for man and nature. Humans enjoy going for walks, building sand castles and the sun, while animals relax on the beach, forage for food and breed there. Support the animals by:
Green Beaches really need volunteers. Want to come and help out as part of our volunteer team? The teams clean up waste, protects birds, provides information and monitors nature on the beach. Join us! For more information, see: duinbehoud.nl/het-groene-strand/.
Thanks to the beach community volunteers and the Municipality of Veere who made this possible. The Green Beach is a cooperation between LandschappenNL, Stichting Duinbehoud, IVN Natuureducatie, Vogelbescherming and Stichting ANEMOON.
The Postcode Loterij supports the Green Beach. The Green Beach at Oranjezon is also supported by the enthusiastic efforts of Aloha Beach, Camping Oranjezon, Stichting Doe mee Verlos de Zee, Terra Maris, Aquarius, Zeecafé, Stichting Het Zeeuwse Landschap, Rotary Club Walcheren, Delta Milieu Projecten, Vogelwerkgroep Walcheren and Stichting Strandexploitatie Veere
Duin is het kwartaalblad van Stichting Duinbehoud. Het biedt informatieve artikelen over planten en dieren, het beheer van de duinen, knelpunten, historie en toekomst van de duinen. Vraag een proefexemplaar aan!
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