The Doove Hole

Stork outstation Het Doove Gat

The Dutch Society for the Protection of Birds has taken the initiative to restore the stork stock. An important step was taken in 1969 with the establishment of stork village "Het Liesveld". This started a reintroduction project for this bird. The Liesveld is, among other things, the "nursery" of the stork project. Here an attempt is made to bring storks to breed, after which the young are released over time, in the hope that they will settle elsewhere in our country in the future.

On a smaller scale, an attempt was also made to achieve this at so-called outdoor stations, of which "Het Doove Gat" in Haastrecht was one. This outstation in Haastrecht was inaugurated on 9 October 1982. At that time, 14 storks, originating from "Het Liesveld", populated the station. In the spring of 1983, one of the breeding pairs was released. This pair has started nesting at this outdoor station and has ensured expansion: in the month of May the first "Doove Hole Stork" crawled out of the egg. Since then, more than 200 young storks have flown out at this station.

The station was closed in the course of 2007 and the site of the station was transferred to Het Zuid-Hollands Landschap at the end of 2007, which integrated the whole into a redevelopment plan for the bosom in which the stork outstation was located. This also took into account the improvement of the habitat for the stork. The stork nests are still largely present.

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