Griend
Template: Infobox Island / Maintenance / image missing template: Infobox Island / Maintenance / surface missing template: Infobox Island / Maintenance / height missing
Griend ( historically also Grind, Gryn or Grynde ) is an uninhabited island in the West Frisian Wadden Sea about 18 kilometers east of the Dutch island of Vlieland and good 12 kilometers northwest of the Dutch city of Harlingen. Administratively, the island belongs to the municipality of Terschelling. Griend is the highest elevation of Ballastplaat, one watt plate between the islands of Vlieland and Terschelling and the Dutch mainland. It has a length of two kilometers and a width of only a few hundred meters and is at normal flood about 82 acres in size.
History
In the Middle Ages the island was inhabited, on her there was a fortified settlement called Stedeke Gryn, which was expanded in 1220 by Siard of Mariengaarde to a protected with moats and ramparts city in which there was also a college as well as a monastery. Griend at the beginning of the 13th century by flourishing trade with the hinterland a prosperous island, especially famous for its cheese. Through constant crashes coast, the island was always smaller, some thoughtlessly applied by the inhabitants channels contributed their part to erosion. The settlement was finally almost completely destroyed by the flood Lucia in December 1287. Griend was then only inhabited until the eighteenth century by some peasants who had built their houses on mounds. In 1800 Griend was only about 25 acres in size and was moving at a speed of 7 meters per year in a southeasterly direction. The residents had at that time already left the island. Due to the migration of the existing building unpaved island went under in the course of time.
The island was once the former inhabitants have left this, used by the inhabitants of Terschelling to pasture for their flocks and for hay. In addition, the eggs of gulls and terns were collected for consumption there. In 1916, the Vereniging Natuurmonumenten bought the grazing rights and tried to fight the egg theft by monitoring the bird colonies.
Griend today
Griend is now a Dutch nature reserve and not open to the public. Today, for on the island except the pole building that is only inhabited by birds Wart and the beacon, which serves both as directional signs as well as a rescue station, no further building longer available. Today's Griend is now in a completely different position than it was in medieval times. The apart from one or two bird waiting now uninhabited island is more of a few meters above mean sea level lying sandbar on the Ballastplaat with appropriate flora and fauna.
Since Griend is not protected by dikes, the island migrates still slowly eastward. In order to protect the island from further loss of land, some dams were built on the southern edge. By 1988 the island was reinforced by the construction of a low sand embankment along the north side, since the erosion is stopped and the area of the island grows back slowly.
Nature
On the flat island breeding numerous species of seabirds, so Griend has amongst the largest tern colony in Western Europe. Each year more than 10,000 breeding pairs nest on the island. Furthermore Griend is also a breeding ground for terns, arctic terns, eider, shelduck, oystercatcher, redshank, black-headed gull, gulls, herring gulls, black-backed gulls and herring gulls. Occasionally also breed here Gulls and short-eared owls. Since the creation of the sand dike, the island is also inhabited by wood mice.