The blue veins of Bree-Eik
Some streams around Bree-Eik once disappeared underground. Today, wherever possible, we try to let the water flow visibly through the landscape again.
A landscape is not shaped only by what grows above ground.
Water, too, determines where fields, grasslands, woods and plants can develop.
At Bree-Eik, this difference is clearly visible. The higher, drier ground is suited to arable farming. Lower in the landscape, the soil becomes damper and we find grasslands. Closer still to the watercourses, wet zones, marshy woodland, ponds and streams appear.
Water thus forms a natural structure running through the landscape.
But part of that structure disappeared.
When streams became pipes
In the past, several small watercourses were piped underground. By putting a stream underground, the plot above it could be worked more easily and farmland could be drained.
For farming, this produced usable land.
Ecologically, a habitat disappeared at the same time.
A flowing stream, after all, offers different conditions than still water in a pond. Various plants and animals depend precisely on that flowing water and its accompanying banks.
Making the water visible again
At Bree-Eik, we therefore try to open up old watercourses again wherever possible.
The water is given room once again to flow above ground through the landscape. Wider banks are provided along the stream, where vegetation can develop.
The biodiversity report aptly calls these watercourses the blue veins of the landscape. After about three years, high plant diversity was already visible along restored sections.
Connecting instead of separating
Just as a hedge can connect different pieces of landscape, so too can a stream.
It runs alongside grasslands, fields and woods, creating different conditions along the way.
That is why, at Bree-Eik, we do not see water only as something that needs to be drained away.
It belongs to the landscape.
And where we can, we give it room once again to help shape that landscape.
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