Leijpark013

@leijpark013 · 22 Oct 2021

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Leijpark013 21-10-2021 Heron & Tench

#leijpark013 #reiger #selt

Published by Thierry P. Dinjens · 6 pm ·
The Leijpark has all kinds of life that remains largely hidden, simply because it is located under the water table. Luckily for us there are quite a few fishermen in the park and I don't mean those men and ladies with a rod. I'm talking about herons. Occasionally, an egret appears, but it is mainly the blue herons who tend to hide a fish before our eyes. Fun for the heron, but also fun for us; this is how we get a picture of life underwater. Photographer Henk de Winter was there just in time when this blue heron outscored an interesting water dweller: the Zeelt.
De Zelt is a carp fish, with an olive green colour and a high mucous layer. This mucus has been seen as healing for many years. Other fish would be fighting scoundrels to heal their own wounds. Whether this is true is a second, but people who breed koi carp also like to keep a tench in their ponds, precisely for these 'medicinal' properties. What we dismiss these days as questionable or even laricking was taken very seriously in the past. For example, a scallop was placed on the navel of people suffering from jaundice (a disease of the liver). According to tradition, De Zeelt would turn yellow as saffron and thus pull the disease out of the body. This is where de Zeelt owes its nickname 'doctor fish'. This sounds like a fairy tale of course, but the Zeelt has played an important role in the history of our health.
You should imagine that only in 1853 the first water pipe was commissioned in our country. For that, people pulled their water out of a well. These wells filled with groundwater and rainwater (rainwater) and were often located in market squares or at monasteries. What they certainly didn't want was for the water to get dirty. Still water, however, is the best breeding ground for algae. These make the drinking water dirty and to avoid that they often let some sea peas swim in the well. They eat the algae away and keep the drinking water clean. In ponds, such as the Leijpark, sea peas keep the water free of algae in the same way, allowing other fish to benefit from this clean swimming and drinking water. We have no knowledge of that, already wandering along the ponds, but underwater the sea shells are working hard. It's sad that the heron has to eat too, but that's how we get a picture of the Leijpark, which is normally hidden. It's really just a matter of being present at the right time and that's a job you can leave to our very own Leijpark photographer: Henk de Winter.