The Molenheide nature reserve is located in a series of forest and heathland areas between Oss and Venray, in the northeast of Brabant. The name refers to the vast heathland of yesteryear. This heathland disappeared when coniferous forests were planted for timber production between 1920 and 1939. Natuurmonumenten is restoring the heathland here. The land where a large poultry farm stood until the early 2000s has been dug up, so that heather bushes can germinate again.
Animals in the forest and on the heathland
The forest is home to all kinds of insects, small mammals and birds of prey such as the hawk, the sparrowhawk, the buzzard and the hobby. You can also encounter deer in the area and you have a very small chance of seeing a fox or badger.
The two ponds in the Brabant nature reserve are rich in dragonflies and other aquatic life. A small building from the former poultry farm has been left standing and now serves as a bat winter shelter. 10 long-eared bats have been observed around this building. The blue-winged grasshopper is a true pioneer on the heathland in the area. This grasshopper likes bare and low-growing soils and particularly benefits from hot summer days in July and August.
We let Scottish highlanders graze on the heathland to prevent grasses from overgrowing the young heather bushes. Badger tracks have even been found in the nature reserve.
Rare plants thanks to nature management
Rare plant species such as ground star, small sundew and marsh clubmoss are growing again in some damp, sandy areas. Natuurmonumenten is changing the straight roads and paths that were once constructed for timber production and timber transport into adventurous winding paths.