Oostvaardersplassen

The Oostvaardersplassen is a fifty-six-square-kilometre reserve in Flevoland, on the shore of the Markermeer between Lelystad and Almere, and it came about by accident. The polder was drained in 1968 and set aside for industry; the ground proved unsuitable, the plan was abandoned, and greylag geese moved into the wet ground that formed. From the late 1970s the biologist Frans Vera made it the site of the best-known rewilding experiment in Europe, introducing Konik horses, Heck cattle and red deer as stand-ins for vanished grazers. It was declared a Ramsar wetland in 1989. White-tailed eagles settled here as breeding birds in 2006.