5924 x 3950 px | 50,2 x 33,4 cm | 19,7 x 13,2 inches | 300dpi
Date de la prise de vue:
2014
Lieu:
Zwin,Cadzand,Netherlands,
Informations supplémentaires:
Several people are looking for fossils mainly fossil shark teeth and shells in the natural area Zwin on the border between Belgium and the Netherlands, The Zwin is the largest and most important tidal salt marsh site in Belgium, with a surface area of nearly 180 ha on Belgian territory – 125 ha of tidal saltwater lagoon, gullies and salt marshes and 55 ha of sand dunes and tidal sandy beach – and a further 27 ha in the Netherlands. It was defined as a “wetland of international importance for waterfowl” by the RAMSAR convention. In the western part of the site a lagoon was created by sand extraction in the 1950s. Here, small islands have for decades offered a safe breeding opportunity for numerous common tern (Sterna hirundo), black-headed gull (Larus ridibundus), avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta), redshank (Tringa totanus) and shellduck (Tadorna tadorna). Numerous species, included many listed in Annex I of the Birds Directive, also overwinter on the site. Since the 1980s, the Zwin has suffered a dramatic loss of biodiversity. Sand deposits have led to the gradual filling up of the lagoon, causing loss of safe breeding opportunities and sleeping sites for the birds, as the former islands are becoming connected to the mainland and accessible to ground predators. The deposited sand probably originates from the increased marine erosion of the sandy beach and fore-dunes, so that the loss of biodiversity can be considered an example of coastal squeeze as a consequence of climate change. This situation has also led to the loss of the habitat type ‘1140 Mudflats and sandflats not covered by seawater at low tide’. Finally, the overgrowth of willows and reeds, the development of fresh and brackish ponds and the accumulation of litter have led to the disappearance of the natterjack toad (Bufo calamita).
