Ready to use, As and Ready to use

Seven hundred hectares of rolling, loamy sandy soils and peaty soil, covered with heather plants. This can only apply to the largest heathland area in Flanders: the Mechelse Heide. There was once a primeval forest here, which was decimated by felling and grazing of the area. What remained was a heathland area, which is well maintained. Young trees are cut down and the humus-rich soil layers are sown, so that new heath plants have room to grow. In summer, the heather turns a beautiful purple color due to the typical heather vegetation, but the red heather, which is rare in Belgium, is also common here.

Broom bushes grow between the heather plants, and tall shrubs and trees also grow here and there. The quaking poplar, sporkhout and sessile oak are some species that you may encounter. High in the trees, the tree pipit, the stonechat and the nightjar build their nests and lizards forage among the foliage. Among the truly rare and striking species are the smooth snake and the saddle grasshopper, but of course the characteristic inhabitants of heathlands are also present: ants and sandwalking beetles plod their way through the sandy soil, over which rabbits happily hop. All this is a stone's throw from Lanklare.