Decoy

This alder forest seems to be the odd one out in this otherwise flat country. However, it is here for a reason. It is part of a duck decoy built in 1811. In this wetland peat meadow and marsh landscape, hunting and fishing have always been important as a source of income and food. Catching ducks has been done since the Middle Ages in a duck decoy: a quiet nature reserve of forest around a pool of water with crooked side ditches: the catch pipes. At the height of the kooikershuisje you will see such a catch pipe. With tame ducks, the decoy-maker lured wild ducks into the pipe. When they entered the catch pen at the end of the pipe, they were killed and literally 'went out of the pipe'. In the case of duck decoys, there is a 'right of demarcation', which stipulates that no noise may be made in a certain circle around the cage (here 753 m.). This makes them unique oases of tranquility with rare birds, plants and amphibians.

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