Zuiderduintjes (; en, Little Southern Dunes) is an uninhabited island in the

Wadden Sea The Wadden Sea ( nl, Waddenzee ; german: Wattenmeer; nds, Wattensee or ; da, Vadehavet; fy, Waadsee, longname=yes; frr, di Heef) is an intertidal zone in the southeastern part of the North Sea. It lies between the coast of northwestern conti ...

in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. It is situated south of

Rottumeroog Rottumeroog () is an Desert island, uninhabited island in the Wadden Sea and is part of the Netherlands. The island is one of three West Frisian Islands in the province of Groningen (province), Groningen. It is situated between the islands of Rott ...

, east of

Rottumerplaat Rottumerplaat () is one of the three islands that make up Rottum in the West Frisian Islands. The island is located in the North Sea off the Dutch coast. It is situated between the shoal Simonszand and the island Rottumeroog. Rottumerplaat starte ...

, and west of

Borkum Borkum ( nds, Borkum, Börkum) is an island and a municipality in the Leer District in Lower Saxony, northwestern Germany. It is situated east of Rottumeroog and west of Juist. Geography Borkum is bordered to the west by the Westerems strait ...

. The island is one of the three

West Frisian Islands The West Frisian Islands (; fry, Waadeilannen) are a chain of islands in the North Sea off the Dutch coast, along the edge of the Wadden Sea. They continue further east as the German East Frisian Islands and are part of the Frisian Islands. Fr ...

in the municipality of

Het Hogeland Het Hogeland is a municipality in the north of the province of Groningen (province), Groningen in the northeast of the Netherlands. History The municipality of Het Hogeland was established on 1 January 2019 by merging the municipalities of Bedu ...

and in the province of

Groningen Groningen (; gos, Grunn or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen province in the Netherlands. The ''capital of the north'', Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of the northern part of t ...

. Zuiderduintjes is part of the nature reserve Rottum and access to the island is prohibited.

Geography

Zuiderduintjes is one of the

in the

. It is located at in the municipality of Eemsmond in the province of

in the

. It is situated off the coast of Groningen's mainland, south of the island of

, east of the island of

, and southwest of the East Frisian island of

. It had a surface area of in 1995 and in 2007.

History

Zuiderduintjes was part of the island of Rottumeroog, but has separated from it around 1930 and has since moved further southeast. Ton de Meulmeester & John Janssen,
Ontwikkelingen in flora en vegetatie van Rottumeroog en Rottumerplaat sinds 1916
, ''Levende natuur'', 1996. Retrieved on 24 October 2014. Hans Steketee,
Misschien lost het eiland op een dag wel op
, ''

NRC Handelsblad ''NRC'', previously called ''NRC Handelsblad'' (), is a daily morning newspaper published in the Netherlands by NRC Media. It is generally accepted as a newspaper of record in the Netherlands. History ''NRC Handelsblad'' was first published on 1 ...

'', 2013. Retrieved on 24 October 2014.

Natural reserve

Zuiderduintjes is part of the nature reserve Rottum. Access to the island is prohibited since it is a resting and foraging area for birds and

seals Seals may refer to: * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, or "true seal" ** Fur seal * Seal (emblem), a device to impress an emblem, used as a means of a ...

.Beheerregeling Rottum
Rijkswaterstaat, 2010. Retrieved on 3 May 2014. The island has a

dune A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, f ...

and

salt marsh A salt marsh or saltmarsh, also known as a coastal salt marsh or a tidal marsh, is a coastal ecosystem in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and open saltwater or brackish water that is regularly flooded by the tides. It is dominated ...

vegetation Vegetation is an assemblage of plant species and the ground cover they provide. It is a general term, without specific reference to particular taxa, life forms, structure, spatial extent, or any other specific botanical or geographic character ...

, and its plants include ''

Elytrigia juncea ''Thinopyrum junceum'', commonly named sand couch-grass, is a species of grass in the family Poaceae. It is found in Europe and temperate Asia, and grows from rhizomes. They have a self-supporting growth form and simple, broad leaves. Individua ...

subsp. boreoatlantica'', '' Sonchus arvensis var. maritimus'', '' Chenopodium album'', ''

Chenopodium rubrum ''Oxybasis rubra''Susy Fuentes-Bazan, Pertti Uotila, Thomas Borsch: ''A novel phylogeny-based generic classification for Chenopodium sensu lato, and a tribal rearrangement of Chenopodioideae (Chenopodiaceae).'' In: ''Willdenowia.'' Vol. 42, No. ...

'', ''

Matricaria maritima ''Tripleurospermum maritimum'' ( syn. ''Matricaria maritima'') is a species of flowering plant in the aster family commonly known as false mayweed or sea mayweed. It is found in many coastal areas of Northern Europe, including Scandinavia and I ...

'', ''

Atriplex littoralis ''Atriplex littoralis'', the grassleaf orache or grass-leaved orache (; also spelled orach) is a species of shrub in the family Amaranthaceae Amaranthaceae is a family of flowering plants commonly known as the amaranth family, in reference to ...

'', '' Descurainia sophia'', ''

Artemisia maritima ''Artemisia maritima'' is a European species of wormwood known as sea wormwood and old woman. It is native to France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Bulgaria and Russia. In its many variations of form it has an e ...

'', '' Festuca rubra'', '' Elytrigia maritima'', '' Salicornia procumbens'', and ''

Suaeda maritima ''Suaeda maritima'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Amaranthaceae known by the common names herbaceous seepweed and annual seablite. Description It is a yellow-green shrub with fleshy, succulent leaves and green flowers. It grows ...

''.

References

External links

* {{Frisian Islands Het Hogeland Islands of Groningen (province) Uninhabited islands of the Netherlands West Frisian Islands