Het Oostvaardersveld in de buurt van Lelystad

Oostvaardersveld is the name of a 328 ha nature development area in Southern Flevoland, land reclaimed in the 1960’s by the construction of a polder in Lake IJsselmeer. After the polder had been drained in 1968 the area was initially developed for agriculture. Some years later its agricultural destination was abandoned and nature development started. Nowadays several landscapes can be found in the Oostvaardersveld, all of them in a pioneer stage. Although only a small part of the area has been explored by the author, the relatively high mollusc diversity was obvious. Twenty-one species of snails, eight species of slugs and five species of freshwater snails were recorded. It should be noted that the water bodies in the area, which are hardly accessible, still did not receive much attention. But hopefully the exploration can be expanded in the next years.