Lepelaarplassen Nature Reserve: Understanding the Protected Wetland Landscapes of Flevoland

The Lepelaarplassen have been protected as a nature reserve since 1971, only a few years after the surrounding southern Flevoland polder was reclaimed from the former Zuiderzee. The lakes that define the reserve were not planned from a conservation perspective, but were created as a side effect of sand extraction during the construction of the Oostvaardersdijk, the dike that separates the polder from the Markermeer.

Since 1994 the area has been managed by the foundation Het Flevo-landschap, which has gradually shaped the reserve through habitat restoration: raising water levels with low dikes, digging shallow channels and pools, and creating or enlarging bird islands. In 2009 the area was formally designated as a Natura 2000 site, placing it within the European network of protected nature areas, and in 2018 it became a core zone of the larger Nationaal Park Nieuw Land. A visitor centre called De Trekvogel, located near the De Blocq van Kuffeler pumping station on the Oostvaardersdijk, served the area until 2023.

Ecologically, the reserve sits within the reclaimed Zuiderzee seabed of the Flevopolder, where nature has had to develop on land that existed only as lake bottom a few decades earlier. The Lepelaarplassen illustrates how new polder landscapes can become ecologically significant relatively quickly when water levels are managed for wetland habitats and where natural colonisation by willow is allowed to proceed.

The area combines several complementary habitat types: open freshwater lakes, reed beds, willow marsh, wet meadows, and small islands of bare sand. These habitats together support a wide range of invertebrates, fish, amphibians, and mammals, including beaver and otter, while also providing breeding, foraging, and roosting conditions for a large suite of birds. Because most of the reserve was never intensively farmed or built upon, it has retained relatively natural hydrological conditions for a polder setting, and its connection to the broader Markermeer shore gives it an additional lakeside character.

Birdlife is the heart of the reserve's identity. A cormorant colony became established here in 1985 with about 240 pairs and at its peak numbered around 5,000 breeding pairs. Diminished fish stocks in the Markermeer have since reduced that colony to roughly 1,100 pairs, but it remains one of the more significant cormorant colonies in the Netherlands. In the heart of the reserve, a large colony of great egrets breeds, with around 150 pairs, and spoonbills, the species after which the reserve is named, still visit the area in small numbers even though they no longer breed here, having moved to the Wadden Islands from 2010 onward.

Roughly 94 bird species breed in the reserve, including little grebe, spotted crake, kingfisher, purple heron, common tern, little ringed plover, bittern, and marsh harrier. The enlargement of two bird islands in 2021 was aimed at expanding suitable nesting habitat for spoonbills, avocets, terns, and plovers that need predator-free islands. The reserve's white-tailed eagle story has become a symbol of its ecological development: a chick named Jannie hatched in the reserve in 2019 and became the first Dutch white-tailed eagle to be fitted with a transmitter, allowing researchers to track her movements.

Mammals also feature prominently. Both beaver and otter are active in the area, which is notable given that otters returned to large parts of the Netherlands only in recent decades. The combination of marsh, open water, and quiet edges makes the reserve one of the more reliable places in the Flevopolder to encounter these semi-aquatic mammals alongside the reserve's abundant birdlife.

The Lepelaarplassen carry substantial conservation weight for a relatively small Dutch reserve. They have been formally protected as a nature reserve since 1971 and were designated as a Natura 2000 area in 2009, placing them within the European Union's network of protected sites for threatened habitats and species. Their recognition by Vogelbescherming as a wetland of international importance reflects both their role as breeding habitat for colonial waterbirds and their function as a staging area along the Oostvaardersdijk migration corridor.

The reserve also illustrates how active management can shape a young polder landscape to support conservation goals. Raising water levels through low encircling dikes, digging shallow channels, and creating reed fringes have all been used to expand marsh habitat, while the enlargement of bird islands in 2021 addresses the loss of secure nesting sites for ground-nesting waterbirds. Successful white-tailed eagle breeding from 2019 onward shows that the reserve has reached a level of ecological maturity sufficient to sustain apex predators, a significant development for a polder landscape only decades old.

The cultural context of the Lepelaarplassen is inseparable from the larger story of the Zuiderzee works. The lakes exist because of the construction of the Oostvaardersdijk, and the surrounding landscape was created when southern Flevoland was drained from the former seabed. The reserve's spontaneous willow woodland is a landmark example of unplanned nature development within an engineered landscape. The reserve also has practical significance for local communities near Almere, providing walking, cycling, and birdwatching opportunities at the boundary between city and lake.

A polder wetland reserve with major cormorant and great egret breeding colonies, an internationally recognised wetland for migratory waterbirds, and one of the first Dutch sites where white-tailed eagles have bred. The reserve forms a key link with the Oostvaardersplassen and Wilgenbos along the Oostvaardersdijk, and showcases how a young man-made landscape can develop into a major bird sanctuary within only a few decades.

Outside the breeding season, roughly from August to early March, guided walks are offered into the inner parts of the reserve, which is the most rewarding period for general nature visitors. Spring and early summer, between March and July, are the breeding season, when access is restricted to a bird hide and a limited number of peripheral paths, but this is also when the breeding colonies of cormorants, great egrets, and other marsh birds are most active. A roughly 12 kilometre walking and cycling route around the reserve is accessible year round, with several viewing screens providing wide views across the lakes and marshes.