Public walk Torrenven

IVN Laarbeek holds an early bird walk through the Lieshout heath near the Torrenven and Vossenbergven.
This walk starts from the junction Rooijseweg-Torrenvenweg, just outside Mariahout towards Nijnsel. Guides from IVN will tell about this nature reserve.
The Torrenven is a beautiful nature reserve with a long history. The area is part of the Midden-Brabant cover sand ridge. This sand ridge was formed some 10,000 years ago, after the last ice age. It starts in Belgium near Arendonk and runs past Boerdonk near Het Hurkske. The toponym ‘donk’ refers to the land form: a sandy accumulation in swampy terrain. The Torrenven, together with the nearby Vossenbergven, belongs to the Lieshoutse heathland, also called the Mariahoutse or Lieshoutse bossen. Both fens were once almost silted up. In 1992, the elongated Torrenven was restored to preserve natural water flows and improve biodiversity. Old seeds, which surfaced during the excavation work, flourished. The forest edge was pushed back, giving more free rein to the wind. In 2019, the Vossenbergven was also tackled in this way. For birdwatchers, it is an interesting area. Various species of birds were and are observed: all kinds of tits, including the crested tit, great spotted woodpecker, black woodpecker, goldfinch, siskins, nuthatch, tree pipit, tree lark, collared redstart. In the fens the frogs can loudly perform their croak