12th November 1988 - Kalmtout Heide

There are several fragmented reserves of heaths, forests, plantations, lakes, marshes, and ponds in the Campine, of which the Kalmthout Heide (Heath) National Reserve in the west is the largest. The habitat is described as Lowland Atlantic Heath, and is said to hold black wood­pecker, black grouse and long‑eared owls. Definitely worth a try.

After the neat brown and green Dutch land­scape, the browns and yellows of winter vegeta­tion give this heathland an aura of wilderness. There is long grass everywhere, covering both the open heath and the floor of the semi‑natural pine forest. Scots and Corsican pines were once planted here, but are now largely naturalised. The open areas are decid­edly wet‑looking with purple moor-grass and cross‑­leaved heath domin­ating the scene, while the drier sandy areas near the trees have common heather as well.

A flock of tits forage in the canopy above while we have breakfast ‑ mixed great, coal, willow and crested tits. We have seen crested tits once before, in Scotland where we really had to search for them. Here they seem to be quite common, if sounds were anything to go by, spending most of the time high in the canopy.

About one hundred hectares of the reserve is designated a protected area for breeding birds. A waymarked path around the perimeter of this area takes-in open heath, pine-woods and farmland. Following this path we find a variety of thrushes, tits, great‑spotted and green wood­peckers and one each of buzzard, ringtail hen harrier and sparrowhawk. I keep an eye on the path for mammal tracks and find a few deer slots. A red squirrel (grey squirrels have not colonised the European mainland yet) gives his presence away by rustling through the dry autumn leaves of an oak tree, and several rabbits scuttle off ahead of us.

Black woodpeckers are elusive, though Jim hears something that resembles the field-guide description of their call. We find a number of dead trees and stumps with evidence of wood­pecker attack, almost certainly the work of the black woodpeckers as they hack open rotten tree stumps and prefer to feed at ground level. One of these trees has a large area of slime mould half way up its trunk.

After a few of hours searching for black wood­peckers, we spend an hour or so just watching the heath, hoping for raptors. The weather has been damp and misty all day but the lack of wind means that standing around is not too uncomfort­able. For our trouble we find a few meadow pipits, fieldfares and lapwings. At dusk we spend another hour or so watching a different area in hope of seeing owls, but again without luck. Nor is there any sign of black grouse. There are plenty of noisy corvids, mallard are having a party and groups of small ducks fly overhead on whirring wings. But no sounds of long-eared or any other owls.

About The Campine
The Campine or Kempenland lies in the Flemish-speak­ing part of Belgium along the Dutch border. It is a low‑lying sand and gravel area formed by the meander­ing of the river Meuse in the great ice age. Orig­inally a sparsely populated heath­land interspersed with oak and birch, much of the area had recently been converted to farmland. Success was achieved by the heavy use of fertili­sers and by cultivating leguminous plants to increase the level of soil nitrogen. In other areas there were extensive plant­ations of spruce, fir and larch. With the discovery and development of underlying coalfields earlier this century, the Kempenland acquired a new look, with modern coal mining villages and a variety of industries such as petrochemicals, and glass and electrical goods.