BCM study tour, part 2

The first full day in Holland we spent at Millingerwaard. This is a nature reserve near Nijmegen, centered around...you guessed it: rivers! Its a government/NGO arrangement, and the managers have succeeded in introducing large herbivores (mainly Konik horses) into the area. The office for the reserve is an ingenious design: organic-green-healthy restaurant/visitor center/butcher/deli. There are several ideas in the reserve: one is to sell bricks made from mud that is dredged out of the areas that are being reclaimed. Brick-making, in fact, is one of Holland's traditional crafts and exports, so this practice also fosters small community sustainability. Second, since there are no top predators in the food chain, the reserve has an excess of horse and cattle. The animals that die naturally they harvest and sell the meat. The visitor center is really nicely designed, and thoughtful, with wonderful ideas about sustainable business built in. We were received warmly there, on a cold morning with coffee and biscuits and a presentation by reserve managers. We took a walk around the reserve and saw the herbivores and the dikes that had been allowed to flood over. At the end of the day, several of us stayed behind to see if we could find the beavers that we'd been told were re-introduced to the wetlands. As we were walking back into the reserve, binoculars in hand, Nick called us over and Paul set his spotting scope trained to...a BEAVER! It was extremely exciting for everyone, especially the europeans and the brits in the group who had never seen a beaver (and especially not in Europe).

We kept walking and listening to the cacophony of birds: lapwing, robin, chaffinch, pigeon, dove, goose, stork, heron. Then, as though we had walked through the looking glass, Nick spotted the beaver again. This time, it was very close to the edge of the pond where we were standing. He motioned to quietly look, and as i walked to the water's edge, the beaver surfaced not ten feet away in the water. I didn't have my binoculars, and i didn't need them - it was that close. I could see its face, nose, whiskers, and it would sort of paddle around, then dip its nose in the water, preening-style. I could also see the tail (Martha! THE TAIL!) and even though the beaver didn't slam it on the water as Martha always dreamed of, it did use the tail in a fascinating way. The tail sits like a rudder in the water, 90 degrees perpendicular to the water surface. It moves the tail side to side, like a fin, and this is how the beaver swims around. Its very smooth, and skilled: where we saw all of this was in somewhat shallow water, thick with reeds and branches to navigate.

We watched the beaver until it disappeared. Unfortunately, only Nick and i were lucky enough to see it, and we were left trying to convince the others that this event had really occurred. I don't care anymore if anyone believes me - it can remain a story locked in my memory only, a moment where i was at the very edge of beaver-world. How can i translate that into language anyway?

I also saw a fox and Egyptian Geese (there are stray populations in Europe) so all in all a very good wildlife day.