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Walking Route Makkumer Zuidwaard

Breeding season: limited accessible
(3.1 km)

Discover the walking path through the Makkumer Zuidwaard and enjoy the countless birds and the beautiful view.

Nature reserve
Along the IJsselmeer coast there are beautiful natural areas outside the dykes, also known as values. Here you can see countless numbers of birds and enjoy the view over the undulating water of the IJsselmeer. You will find the Makkumersúdwaard near Makkum. They are originally all overgrown sandbanks surrounded by shallow IJsselmeer water and it is a protected nature reserve.

A hiking trail runs through the Makkumersúdwaard, which is closed in the breeding season from March 15 to July 15. Outside of this breeding area, it is very worthwhile to follow this area via this walking route.

Storyline Space 
The Makkumersúdwaard is also part of the Story Route Space of VVV Waterland van Friesland. Read a Frisian poem abo…

Discover the walking path through the Makkumer Zuidwaard and enjoy the countless birds and the beautiful view.

Nature reserve
Along the IJsselmeer coast there are beautiful natural areas outside the dykes, also known as values. Here you can see countless numbers of birds and enjoy the view over the undulating water of the IJsselmeer. You will find the Makkumersúdwaard near Makkum. They are originally all overgrown sandbanks surrounded by shallow IJsselmeer water and it is a protected nature reserve.

A hiking trail runs through the Makkumersúdwaard, which is closed in the breeding season from March 15 to July 15. Outside of this breeding area, it is very worthwhile to follow this area via this walking route.

Storyline Space 
The Makkumersúdwaard is also part of the Story Route Space of VVV Waterland van Friesland. Read a Frisian poem about the Makkumersúdwaard here.

It Fryske Gea regularly organizes excursions here, for example to spot birds.

Sights on this route

Starting point: Langs de Makkumerzuidwaard
Zuidwaard
8754 GK Makkum
1

Makkumerzuidwaard Nature Reserve

Along the shore of Lake IJsselmeer there are three nature reserves on the sandflats outside the dykes. When Lake IJsselmeer was still the Zuiderzee, these coastal sandflats were flooded by the tides.

Makkumerzuidwaard Nature Reserve
End point: Langs de Makkumerzuidwaard
Zuidwaard
8754 GK Makkum

Directions

Starting point: Langs de Makkumerzuidwaard
Zuidwaard
8754 GK Makkum

The Makkumersúdwaard is a kind of peninsula in the IJsselmeer. Here you walk through the herb-rich bushes and reed beds. Many different birds live in the area. The bearded man is an example of this. This special reed bird tumbles through the reeds like a real acrobat and eats insects in the summer. As soon as winter approaches, he switches to a vegetarian diet of (reed) seeds. This small reed bird adjusts its stomach to digest these seeds. The bearded male can be recognized by its characteristic 'sideburns'

In the shallow water off the coast you can regularly find small swans and mute swans from the beginning of October. More than two thousand Bewick's Swans are sometimes counted along the Frisian IJsselmeer coast, which is 20 percent of the world population. They come to the underwater plants that grow here and eat, for example, the root nodules of the pondweed. The elegant water birds disappear as soon as the tubers are gone. Until then they will be joined by ducks such as goldeneye and pochard.

End point: Langs de Makkumerzuidwaard
Zuidwaard
8754 GK Makkum

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