why did he go to the trouble of bringing them in? Because he has a hobby: he aims to prove that industry and nature can live happily together, and all the signs indicate that he is right. Large numbers of meadow birds such as peewits live amid the grass halms. Higher up perch the small owls, and a wood pecker recently left his visiting card in the form of holes hammered into the trees. And of course there are many kestrels which feast continuously on the numerous field-mice, though these - despite the birds of prey - are clearly quite at home. This is because no chemicals are used on the Zoeterwoude flora. One other result of this however is that there are large armies of moles and Mr. Dikken is not too happy about them for the building surrounds are embellished by many square feet of lawn. This pleasant expanse of level green is enhanced by trees, by a variety of plants and - recently introduced - hundreds and hundreds of roses. Teun Dikken likes plants just as much as he likes animals. That he is doing well in this field also is proved by the fact that Heineken won first prize in a garden contest last year. But to return to the fauna. The blue heron is also a frequent guest, attracted by the cleanliness of the environment and the abundance of his favourite food, fish and frogs, which have found a home in the water at Heineken. Fish Near the office building there is a big pond, dug when construction was in progress. Many kinds of fish - of types normally found in Dutch waterways - live in it. All are healthy and producing offspring. One foreign guest imposed on them by the Fisheries Department is the Chinese grass carp. It was imported by the Dutch Government because of its eating habits. The theory is that since it is - addicted to water plants there is no need to use chemicals to keep down this type of greenery. The idea is a good one, but the plain fact is that when the temperature rises above normal the Chinese grass carp eats twice as much! The result is that in a hot summer all plants in certain areas disappear and this means that many other fish die through lack of the oxygen normally produced by plants. For this reason the Government exercises great care and has chosen a hundred secluded spots - the Heineken pond among them - where the Chinese fish is under rigorous control. It is interesting to note that the depart mental inspector responsible for Chinese grass carp at Zoeterwoude considers that the pond generally is doing extremely well with regard both to fish and to plants. These latter include, according to the inspector, many rare varieties. There are, naturally, many kinds of duck, a number of geese, a turkey family, swans and a miscellany of other waterfowl. They all know Teun Dikken when he leaves his houseboat in the morning on his way to work - carrying a package of bread crumbs. As the birds gather round him for their daily ration, each in its own way wishes him 'Good morning'. It's perhaps not entirely because of the food that they give him such a hearty welcome. 5

Jaarverslagen en Personeelsbladen Heineken

Heineken Contact | 1980 | | pagina 5