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33-519: Warfhuizen consists of two man-made mounds, called wierden , designed to escape the floodwaters of the Wadden , which flooded the whole region several times a year before dykes had been coed. The smaller mound was originally raised to protect a separate village called Burum . The village church stands on the larger mound. The church belongs to the hermitage of Our Lady of the Enclosed Garden , one of

66-763: A Joint Declaration on the Protection of the Wadden Sea was agreed upon to co-ordinate activities and measures for the protection of the Wadden Sea. In 1997, a Trilateral Wadden Sea Plan was adopted. In 1986, the Wadden Sea Area was declared a biosphere reserve by UNESCO . In June 2009, the Wadden Sea (comprising the Dutch Wadden Sea Conservation Area and the German Wadden Sea National Parks of Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein)

99-623: A dyke was built between Enkhuizen and Lelystad as the northern boundary of the Markerwaard , a planned but never realized polder in the IJsselmeer. This dyke, the Houtribdijk or Markerwaarddijk , split the IJsselmeer into two parts. The former southern part of the IJsselmeer is now the hydrologically separate Markermeer . The proposed polderisation of the Markerwaard was abandoned after many of

132-634: A major hydraulic engineering project that involved building dykes, draining parts of the Zuiderzee, and constructing the Afsluitdijk to keep tides and high water out. In 1932 the Zuiderzee was closed off by the Afsluitdijk, a 32-kilometre (20 mi) dyke connecting Friesland and North Holland on either side of the Zuiderzee. The Zuiderzee was no longer a sea inlet and was renamed IJsselmeer ( Lake IJssel ) after

165-520: A result, about 90% of all the species that historically inhabited that part of the Wadden Sea are at risk. The Wadden Sea is an important habitat for both harbour and grey seals . Harbour porpoises and white-beaked dolphins are the sea's only resident cetaceans . They were once extinct in the southern part of the sea but have also re-colonized that area again. Many other cetaceans only visit seasonally, or occasionally. In early history, North Atlantic right whales and gray whales (now extinct in

198-585: A small and increasing breeding population of white-tailed eagles . However, the biodiversity of Wadden Sea is smaller today than it once was; for birds, greater flamingos and Dalmatian pelicans used to be common as well, at least during the Holocene climatic optimum when the climate was warmer. Due to human activity and a changing environment, species have gone extinct, while others are expected to migrate in. Larger fish including rays , Atlantic salmon and brown trout are still present in several sections of

231-553: Is an intertidal zone in the southeastern part of the North Sea . It lies between the coast of northwestern continental Europe and the range of low-lying Frisian Islands , forming a shallow body of water with tidal flats and wetlands . It has a high biological diversity and is an important area for both breeding and migrating birds. In 2009, the Dutch and German parts of the Wadden Sea were inscribed on UNESCO 's World Heritage List and

264-587: Is generally understood to include all coastal regions around the Wadden Sea that participate in the trilateral cooperation between Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands. The entire area is known for its rich cultural heritage, dating back to the Roman Iron Age and the Middle Ages, and largely coincides with the area internationally referred to as Frisia . Between 2002 and 2023 stakeholder organizations and NGOs from

297-581: The Afsluitdijk . Historically, the coastal regions were often subjected to large floods, resulting in thousands of deaths, including the Saint Marcellus' floods of 1219 and 1362, Burchardi flood of 1634 and Christmas Flood of 1717 . Some of these also significantly changed the coastline. Numerous dikes and several causeways have been built, and as a result recent floods have resulted in few or no fatalities (even if some dikes rarely and locally have been overrun in recent history). This makes it among

330-647: The Frisian islands and the mainland coastal marshes , is also called the Wadden Coast. In Germany the area is referred to as North Sea Coast ( Nordseeküste ). The embanked polderlands and saltmarshes in the Wadden Sea area – including the Elbe Marshes – are referred to in Germany as North Sea coastal marshes ( Nordseemarschen ). More recent are terms such as Waddenland, Wadden Sea area and Wadden Sea Region. The latter term

363-546: The IJssel river that flows into it, which is also the namesake of the province of Overijssel . The continuing flow of fresh river water soon flushed out the salt water. Part of the IJsselmeer was later closed off to form the Markermeer . From 1929 till 1967, over half the IJsselmeer was drained, creating 1,979 km (764 sq mi) of polders : Wieringermeerpolder , Noordoostpolder , East and South Flevoland . In 1975,

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396-424: The provinces of Flevoland , North Holland and Friesland . It covers an area of 1,100 km (420 sq mi) with an average depth of 4.5 m (15 ft). The river IJssel , after which the lake was named, flows into the IJsselmeer. Two thousand years ago Pomponius Mela , a Roman geographer, mentioned a complex of lakes at the current location of the IJsselmeer. He called it Lacus Flevo . Over

429-470: The 10th to 14th centuries, overflowing and carrying away former peat land behind the coastal dunes. The present islands are a remnant of the former coastal dunes. Towards the North Sea the islands are marked by dunes and wide sandy beaches, and towards the Wadden Sea a low, tidal coast. The impact of waves and currents carrying away sediments is slowly changing both land masses and coastlines. For example,

462-512: The 19th century. Mudflat hiking , i.e., walking on the sandy flats at low tide, has become popular in the Wadden Sea. It is also a popular region for pleasure boating. The German part of the Wadden Sea was the setting for the 1903 Erskine Childers novel The Riddle of the Sands and Else Ury 's 1915 novel Nesthäkchen in the Children's Sanitorium . The area bordering the Wadden Sea, including

495-664: The Danish part was added in June 2014. The Wadden Sea stretches from Den Helder , in the northwest of the Netherlands , past the great river estuaries of Germany to its northern boundary at Skallingen in Denmark along a total coastline of some 500 km (310 mi) and a total area of about 10,000 km (3,900 sq mi). Within the Netherlands, it is bounded from the IJsselmeer by

528-498: The Dutch population did not want the loss of the traditional seaside (now lakeside) environment and vistas. In 1986 three polders in the IJsselmeer constituted the new province of Flevoland , the twelfth province of the Netherlands. The water of the IJsselmeer is now almost completely fresh, the saline having long since been purged. This altered environment has had an impact on the fish and plant ecosystems . The change has been beneficial for Dutch boats, many of which are steel, as

561-521: The English Channel, creating very high tides along the Dutch coast. During the 17th century, Zuiderzee dykes collapsed several times, and plans were drawn up to eliminate the threat by draining the bay. Later drainage plans focused on creating fertile farmland, but they never progressed beyond the planning stage. It was only after the flood of 1916 that the legislature approved the Zuiderzee Works ,

594-413: The IJsselmeer, the closed-off bay functions as a large freshwater reservoir, serving as a source for agriculture and drinking water. Outlet sluices in the Afsluitdijk regulate the water level of the IJsselmeer. The IJsselmeer is used for transport and fishing. It also offers a number of opportunities for recreational activity, both on the water and on its shores. Due to the shallowness of the IJsselmeer,

627-649: The North Atlantic) were present in the region, perhaps using the shallow, calm waters for feeding and breeding. It has been theorized that they were hunted to extinction in this region by shore-based whalers in medieval times. They are generally considered long-extinct in the region, but in the Netherlands, a possible right whale was observed close to beaches on Texel in the West Frisian Islands and off Steenbanken, Schouwen-Duiveland in July 2005. Recent increases in

660-603: The Wadden Sea Region cooperated in a platform or association called the Wadden Sea Forum (WSF). Shared locally with other region/s and with Germany and Denmark IJsselmeer The IJsselmeer ( Dutch: [ˌɛisəlˈmeːr] ; West Frisian : Iselmar , Dutch Low Saxon : Iesselmeer ), also known as Lake IJssel in English, is a closed-off freshwater lake in the central Netherlands bordering

693-588: The Wadden Sea). European oyster once formed large beds in the region and was still present until a few decades ago, when extirpated due to a combination of disease and the continued spread of the invasive Pacific oyster , which now forms large beds in the Wadden Sea. Especially the southwestern part of the Wadden Sea has been greatly reduced. Historically, the Rhine was by far the most important river flowing into this section, but it has been greatly reduced due to dams. As

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726-423: The Wadden Sea, but others like European sea sturgeon only survive in the region through a reintroduction project. The world's only remaining natural population of houting survives in the Danish part of the Wadden Sea and it has been used as a basis for reintroductions further south, but considerable taxonomic confusion remains over its status (whether it is the same as the houting that once lived further south in

759-571: The audience. Little is documented about this alleged custom. The origins of this particular custom are unknown, although a widespread rumor tells that it started with catholic pilgrims from the south of India and Sri Lanka , but the reasons behind this rumor are unexplained. Wadden The Wadden Sea ( Dutch : Waddenzee [ˈʋɑdə(n)zeː] ; German : Wattenmeer [ˈvatn̩ˌmeːɐ̯] ; Low German : Wattensee or Waddenzee ; Danish : Vadehavet ; West Frisian : Waadsee ; North Frisian : di Heef )

792-511: The centuries, the lake banks crumbled away due to flooding and wave action, and the lake, now called the Almere , grew considerably. During the 12th and 13th centuries, storm surges and rising sea levels flooded large areas of land between the lake and the North Sea, turning the lake into a bay of the North Sea, called the Zuiderzee . The Zuiderzee continued to be a threat to the Dutch, especially when northwesterly storms funnel North Sea waters towards

825-399: The few hermitages in the Netherlands still inhabited by a hermit . The church, which was first constructed in the 13th century, was replaced by a neo-classical building in 1858. Only the bell survived the ages and is even one of the oldest churchbells in the Netherlands. The building is dedicated to Saint Ludger and Our Lady under the title of "the Enclosed Garden". The present organ

858-435: The freshwater significantly reduces rusting of the hulls, and there is far less build-up of marine growth (such as algae and barnacles below the barges ' waterlines). This has the knock-on benefit that barges and yachts in the IJsselmeer need far less antifouling , a coating which is inevitably somewhat toxic to wildlife. Due to considerable amounts of water from the Rhine flowing through its distributary IJssel into

891-476: The islands of Vlieland and Ameland have moved eastwards through the centuries, having lost land on one side and added it on the other. The Wadden Sea is famous for its rich flora and fauna , especially birds. Hundreds of thousands of waders , ducks , and geese use the area as a migration stopover or wintering site. It is also a rich habitat for gulls and terns , as well as a few species of herons , Eurasian spoonbills and birds-of-prey , including

924-446: The last years their habit spread to all Catholics in the region and even beyond: Warfhuizen became the northernmost Marian sanctuary of continental Europe. A peculiar custom, unique for this shrine, is 'the trading of the handkerchief '. It is said that visitors bring a new white handkerchief and ask the hermit to swap it with the one held by the sorrowful Virgin whose handkerchief is then presented to someone sick, lonely or elderly in

957-417: The most human-altered habitats on the planet. The word wad is Frisian and Dutch for "mud flat" ( Low German and German : Watt , Danish : Vade ). The area is typified by extensive tidal mud flats , deeper tidal trenches ( tidal creeks ) and the islands that are contained within this, a region continually contested by land and sea. The landscape has been formed for a great part by storm tides in

990-428: The number of North Atlantic humpback whales and minke whales might have resulted in more visits and possible re-colonization by the species to the areas especially around Marsdiep . Future recovery of once-extinct local bottlenose dolphins is also expected. A number of human-introduced invasive species , including algae , plants, and smaller organisms, are causing negative effects on native species. Each of

1023-514: The three countries has designated Ramsar sites in the region (see Wadden Sea National Parks ). Although the Wadden Sea is not yet listed as a transboundary Ramsar site, a great part of the Wadden Sea is protected in cooperation of all three countries. The governments of the Netherlands, Denmark and Germany have been working together since 1978 on the protection and conservation of the Wadden Sea. Co-operation covers management, monitoring and research, as well as political matters. Furthermore, in 1982,

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1056-482: Was built in 1910, but was in fact reconstructed from two organs of a much earlier date (17th and 18th century.) The church is especially known for its statue of the Mother of Sorrows , sculpted by one of the renowned procession-sculptors of Seville , Miguel Bejarano Moreno . It is because of this very Andalusian image that some Spaniards living in the Netherlands use Warfhuizen as a place of (unofficial) pilgrimage . In

1089-757: Was placed on the World Heritage list by UNESCO . A minor boundary modification in 2011 added the Hamburg Wadden Sea National Park to the site, and the Danish part was added to in 2014. The state of Bremen , covering part of the Weser River estuary, is not participating. Conservation efforts are coordinated by the Common Wadden Sea Secretariat, seated in Wilhelmshaven . Many of the islands have been popular seaside resorts since

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