IVN Laarbeek walk to the Ruweeuwsels

Every year in early spring, you can take a walk with guides from IVN Laarbeek in the Ruweeuwsels, a nature reserve in Lieshout. The Ruweeuwsels is a nature reserve of about 20 hectares that is currently wedged between the Wilhelminakanaal and the Molenheide. Around the year 1100, the use of this area came into the hands of the occupant of farmstead De Nieuwenhof. In 1748, one Jan Bout, lord of the manor of Lieshout, bought the land for 1,000 guilders. The deed states: ‘A parcel of meadow, wood and Bosveld, situated here around the Achterbosch, called the Rouw Eeuwzel, approximately forty hundred square metres, or as large and small as it lies in the aforementioned location’.

Bolt had the area made suitable for forestry. Ditches were dug between rows of trees. In 1842, the land came into the hands of the Helmond textile manufacturer Albert Bots, after which, by inheritance, Alberts Pistorius, mayor of Aarle-Rixtel, became the owner. With the construction of the Wilhelmina Canal, the northern part went to a farmer, who turned it into farmland. In 1968, the Ruweeuwsels came into the possession of the Brabants Landschap. The reserve consists mainly of rich hardwood forest (trouser forest) with some forest meadows. The soil is moist and nutrient-rich. The area has long been used for poplar cultivation. After World War II, most of the old trees were felled. Only a few old beeches recall this era.

Carpets of wood anemones, which especially in the sunlight unfold their petals into a white splendour. How insanely beautiful nature reserve De Ruweeuwsels can be in spring. Along with it the tender spearweed and the large-flowered wall. The hazel is already blooming with catkins; it depends on the wind for pollination. On some tree trunks are large thunder mushrooms. Several species of birds are observed, including woodpeckers, tits, robin, chiffchaff, tree creeper, nuthatch. Could the black-headed warbler be here by now?