Naardermeer

The Naardermeer is a shallow lake and fen east of Amsterdam, and its importance is institutional as much as ecological: in 1906 the city proposed to use it as a municipal rubbish tip, and Jac. P. Thijsse and Eli Heimans led a campaign against it that resulted in the founding of Natuurmonumenten, the Dutch nature conservation society, whose first purchase this was. It is therefore the oldest protected nature reserve in the Netherlands, and the organisation it created now holds hundreds of sites. The lake itself is reed, open water, alder carr and wet grassland, holding one of the older Dutch cormorant colonies, purple herons, bitterns and otters, which returned in the 2010s. Access is deliberately limited: guided boat trips through the channels in season, one walking route, and the rest closed. Excursions book ahead.

What you actually see

• The first Dutch reserve - bought in 1906 to stop it becoming a rubbish tip.
• The founding of Natuurmonumenten - the society created to make the purchase.
• Reed, alder carr and open water - with cormorants, purple herons and bitterns.
• Guided boat trips - the main access, through channels otherwise closed.

When to go

April to September. Half a day.

Honest expectations

Most of the reserve is closed to entry - access is by booked boat trip or one walking route, and trips fill in summer. Mosquitoes are severe. The railway to Amsterdam runs through the middle of it.

Nearby

Naarden's star fortress is a few kilometres east.