Donkmeer

Ten thousand years ago, the Scheldt still flowed around the sand dunes of Bareldonk, but over time the river shifted its course several times by meandering. When such meander was cut off under the violence of running water, a horseshoe lake was left behind. In it, the plant growth could take its course and the shallow water was filled with half-rotten material. At the end of the seventeenth century, peat began to be mined in such horseshoe lake in Berlare. The large-scale dyeing continued there well into the nineteenth century.

Massart photographed the Donkmeer in Berlare in 1904, an example of a horseshoe lake. In the water, a lush vegetation of crab shear (Stratiotes aloides), floating fountainwort (Pota-mogeton natans), fine water ranunculus (Ranunculus aquatilis) and large hedgehog head (Sparganium erectum) was found. Along the banks grew yellow fis (Iris pseudacorus) and riparian sedge (Carex riparia). In the background you can see a hayfield where, among other things, hennegrass (Calamagrostis canescens) thrived.

(Source: Recollecting Landscapes)

Dromos