Wildervank

History

The Wildervankster bog was a raised bog located to the west of Oude Pekela. Adriaan Geerts settled in Oude Pekela to study the exploitation of peat by the city of Groningen. The Wildevankster bog was still untouched, and Geerts wanted to purchase it. He bought the bog in 1647 in order to establish his own peat colony, but needed to procure a ƒ250,000 mortgage from an Amsterdam merchant. Geerts would later use the surname Wildervanck. The colony was moderately successful, however the heavy mortgage payments forced Wildervanck to sell large parts of the colony. It would remain an independent municipality until 1969 when it merged into Veendam except for a small part which was added to Stadskanaal.

Most-observed species

• Common Buzzard

  Buteo buteo (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  21,334
• Gray/Purple Heron

  Ardea cinerea Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  15,337
• Great Egret

  Ardea alba Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  14,864
• Common Chaffinch

  Fringilla coelebs Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  14,303
• Common Chiffchaff

  Phylloscopus collybita (Vieillot, 1817) · Aves
  14,127
• Eurasian Blackbird

  Turdus merula Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  13,943
• White Stork

  Ciconia ciconia (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  13,772
• European Stonechat

  Saxicola rubicola (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  13,226

Most recent

• M 3.8 — 2025-11-14
  0 km ESE of Uithuizen, Netherlands
• M 2.7 — 2022-09-24
  3 km SSW of Spijk, Netherlands
• M 3.2 — 2019-05-22
  1 km E of Warffum, Netherlands
• M 3.4 — 2013-02-07
  1 km NE of Usquert, Netherlands
• M 3.4 — 2012-08-16
  1 km NNE of Loppersum, Netherlands
• M 3.3 — 2008-10-30
  2 km SSW of Usquert, Netherlands