Boskalis completes habitat restoration project in the Western Scheldt

Boskalis has just announced the successful completion of an important bird habitat restoration and enhancement project in the province of Zeeland, the Netherlands.

According to Boskalis, the newly restored habitat named Hooge Platen is a breeding site for coastal birds in the Western Scheldt. But at high tide, the 1800-hectare nature reserve largely disappears in the waves.

To ensure that the breeding birds and seals in the area can keep visiting the island at low tide Boskalis expanded and raised the island recently.

During the works, Boskalis used about 60,000 cubic meters of sand to raise the sandbanks on the east side of the island.

That area is called Hooge Springer and was finished with a top layer of some 5,000 cubic meters of shells that serve as substrate for some special breeding birds in the Western Scheldt, such as the little tern and beach plover.

Another 80,000 cubic meters were used to create a sand motor on the west side, an area known as De Bol.

That sand will be moved by the current and wind over the next few years to the island’s breeding sites, which will thus be naturally replenished with sand.