Northern Lights over Beers #1 by Lex Schulte

Northern lights over the Kraaijenbergse plassen near Beers. On 10 May 2024, we had one of the strongest solar flares to reach our country in 20 years. The result was photographic northern lights as far away as Brabant! And because it came early in the evening, this natural phenomenon in the photo got along with the moon, the stars a still blue sky. On the horizon, the last colours of the setting sun can just be seen. It is always better by the water, so the Kraaijenbergse plassen (lakes) often offer a nice view. Because there is no wind, the water is like a mirror. It looks like the Frisian lakes here, but you are really in Brabant. As far as you can see, you see water. This is the result of 40 years of digging for sand, gravel and clay. After these diggings, most of the lakes were created for recreation, some for nature. In those nature lakes, digging was not too deep and the banks were made jagged. The Kraaijenbergse Plassen form a vast lake area of over 400 ha. The lakes are located in the municipalities of Cuijk and Grave in the Dutch province of North Brabant. The ponds were created by the extraction of industrial sand, gravel and clay since 1968. Originally, this sparsely populated area was part of the Beerse Overlaat. The sand extraction activities, which ended in 2010, created a lake area that stretches parallel to the Maas from Cuijk harbour in the east to Gassel in the west and from the Maas in the north to Beers in the south. The village of Linden became virtually surrounded by water as a result of these activities.