Beelaertmeersen

In the Beelaertmeersen nature reserve, the Leie has created natural floodplains in several places. While lower-lying areas are swampy, higher-lying areas remain dry. As a result, the fauna and flora are diverse and you will find lush vegetation with sedge, marigold and cuckoo flower, cave reed, buttercup and mouse tail. The ditches are full of water violet, dull pondweed, and syringa.
In the evenings you can hear owls in the old pollarded willows at the field edges. Rare birds such as bluethroats, warblers, reed buntings and kingfishers breed here. There is also something going on in winter: then you can discover many snipes, but also little snipes and water pipits.

In the Beelaertmeersen, the complete transition between the Leiemeersen, right along the river, and the higher-lying kouter with drier fields has been preserved. In the winter, the meadows are soaking wet. All kinds of sedges and marsh marigolds grow here and in April and May, the orange tips flutter between the cuckoo flowers. In the old pollard willows on the plot boundaries, you can hear the little owls in the evening.