Many rare plants are growing right beside the path
The River Holzwarche, whose entire course has been preserved in a relatively natural state, rises at an altitude of 660 metres in the small village of Losheimergraben, on the German-Belgian border, then flows in a north-westerly direction and flows into the Bütgenbach reservoir. Since 1978, a protected area has been created here, which today covers around 80 hectares – the showpiece of the Natagora/RNOB (Réserves naturelles ornithologiques de Belgique).
It's astounding what can be found growing right beside the path. Aromatic, fennel-related spignel, for example, or great burnet, with flowerheads that look a bit like raspberries and which can grow a metre tall (a favourite plant of Alexander's); the narrow-leaved willowherb (with its pink flowers) and the heartshape-leaved harebell (with blue flowers). Meadowsweet, black knapweed, bistort, pheasant’s eye and plentiful other species explode into blooms at different times of the year.