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Belgium Belgium forest

Sonian Forest

Donarreiskoffer · CC BY 3.0

80% trees around it and 1,917 species recorded.

76Forestyas Score

ForestFungiBirdsWildlife

  • trees within 3 km80%
  • wild within 10 km71%
  • species recorded1,917
  • Altitude108 m

The forest around

80% trees.

Read like the rings of a cut trunk: from the centre out, the land within 1, 3, 6 and 10 km, coloured by what covers it.

Trees 89%Grassland 4%Built-up 7%Trees 78%Grassland 12%Water 0%Cropland 3%Built-up 7%Trees 74%Grassland 10%Water 1%Cropland 4%Built-up 12%Trees 48%Grassland 14%Water 0%Cropland 14%Built-up 24%80%trees · 3 km

Trees, ring by ring

  • 0–1 km89%
  • 1–3 km78%
  • 3–6 km74%
  • 6–10 km48%

What covers the land (1–3 km)

  • Trees78%
  • Grassland12%
  • Water0%
  • Cropland3%
  • Built-up7%

ESA WorldCover 2021 (10 m, from Sentinel satellites), sampled every 120 m. A clearing, a road or a lake counts as what it is.

Who lives here

1,917 species recorded.

The plants, fungi, birds and mammals people have recorded here most often.

European Beech
European BeechFagus sylvatica1,637 recordsMalene Thyssen · CC BY-SA 3.0
Sycamore
SycamoreAcer pseudoplatanus970 recordsChristian Pirkl · CC BY-SA 3.0 at
Broadleaf enchanter's nightshade
Broadleaf enchanter's nightshadeCircaea lutetiana924 recordsUser:Kilom691 · Public domain
Wood-sorrel
Wood-sorrelOxalis acetosella872 recordsJörg Hempel · CC BY-SA 3.0 de
Ground-ivy
Ground-ivyGlechoma hederacea848 recordsAnRo0002 · CC0
Great woodrush
Great woodrushLuzula sylvatica722 recordsUnknown author · CC BY-SA 3.0
Garlic Mustard
Garlic MustardAlliaria petiolata711 recordsO. Pichard · CC BY-SA 3.0
Hornbeam
HornbeamCarpinus betulus710 recordsBotaurus · Public domain
Yellow Archangel
Yellow ArchangelLamium galeobdolon677 recordsTeun Spaans · CC BY 2.5
Herb bennet
Herb bennetGeum urbanum672 recordsDidier Descouens · CC BY-SA 4.0
American milletgrass
American milletgrassMilium effusum658 recordsJames K. Lindsey · CC BY-SA 3.0
Creeping buttercup
Creeping buttercupRanunculus repens636 recordsUnknown author · CC BY-SA 3.0

Open records within 5 km (GBIF, licensed for any use). Busy places are better recorded than remote ones.

In numbers

The forest, measured.

76out of 100

Our own rating, from open data only: tree cover (40 points), wildness (20), species recorded (30) and protection or heritage (10).

  • 80%Treesof the land within 3 km
  • 71%Wildno towns or farmland within 10 km
  • 1,917Speciesrecorded more than once within 5 km
  • 108 mAltitudeabove the sea

When to walk

Best for walking in May and in September.

How good each month is for a walk: mild days and little rain make the bar taller.

  1. Jan5°0°69 mm
  2. Feb6°0°60 mm
  3. Mar10°2°55 mm
  4. Apr15°4°38 mm
  5. May18°8°59 mm
  6. Jun22°12°63 mm
  7. Jul24°14°75 mm
  8. Aug23°13°79 mm
  9. Sep20°10°55 mm
  10. Oct15°7°63 mm
  11. Nov10°4°69 mm
  12. Dec6°1°78 mm
  • Bar: walking comfort; the number on top is the average maximum.
  • Below: average minimum (NASA, 1991–2020).
  • Rain: monthly total.

The place

Sonian Forest.

Forest southeast of Brussels, Belgium

Sonian Forest is a forest in Belgium.

Seen from space, 80% of the land within 3 km is trees, and 71% of the land within 10 km has no towns or farmland.

1,917 species have been recorded around it: 1,000 plants, 669 fungi, 219 birds and 29 mammals.

The most recorded plants are: European Beech, Sycamore and Broadleaf enchanter's nightshade.

The best time to walk is in May and in September.

Brussels Zonienwoud
Donarreiskoffer · CC BY 3.0

Get there and walk

Plan the visit

A guided walk, a bed nearby, a car.

Car hire at BRU airport (Zaventem)Discover CarsSee prices 

Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.

From above

The forest and its surroundings.

The satellite image of the 6 × 6 km around the place, with the trails, notable trees, picnic sites and huts that OpenStreetMap shows.

Sonian Forest seen from above (Sentinel-2)
Seen from above: Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 6 × 6 km, north up. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Around, in OpenStreetMap

  • 23marked trails within 5 kmGR 126 Bruxelles - Membre-sur-Semois, GRP 127 Tour du Brabant Wallon, GR 121 De Liège à Bruxelles and 20 more
  • 44named and notable trees within 6 kmChêne Lienard - Lienard Eik, Dikke Eugene, Tilleul de l'Indépendance - Onafhankelijkheidslinde and 41 more
  • 74picnic sites within 4 km
  • 297shelters and huts within 6 km
  • 4viewpoints within 5 kmPonton and 3 more
  • 3visitor centres within 6 kmDe Woudpoort, VUB Infopunt Studenten, Maison du Tourisme
  • 84car parks within 3 km
  • 4campsites within 10 kmWelcome, Camping Druivenland, Campeerplaatsen Polygoon and 1 more
  • 299places to stay within 10 kmAuberge des Trois Fontaines, Martin's Château du Lac, Grand Hotel Waterloo and 296 more
  • 25restaurants and cafés within 3 km

Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet.

In our other atlases

Around Sonian Forest.

The mountains, lakes, rivers, waterfalls and canyons around this forest, the viewpoints above it, the birds and the night sky, in the family's atlases.

Peakyas27 mountains within 25 km
Flotsenberg102 m · 9.3 kmMont aux Potences - Galgenberg81 m · 9.9 kmCoudenberg - Koudenberg10 kmBruine Put120 m · 11 kmKoekelberg70 m · 14 kmTomberg102 m · 18 kmGasthuisberg78 m · 20 kmIJzeren Man112 m · 24 km
Darkskyas4 dark-sky places within 30 km
Royal Observatory of BelgiumBortle 8 · 6.9 kmBeersel Hills ObservatoryBortle 8 · 10 kmformer observatory of BrusselsBortle 9 · 11 kmBrussels PlanetariumBortle 9 · 16 km

Figures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, OpenStreetMap). Links open when each site is online.

Photographs

The forest, as people saw it.

Autumn light in the Sonian Forest
GdML · CC BY-SA 4.0
Château forestier des Trois Fontaines (DSCF7057)
Trougnouf (Benoit Brummer) · CC BY 4.0
Foret de Soignes, 2007-11-04-4
Szilas · Public domain

Other forests nearby.

Sonian Forest

Belgium

  • 76Forestyas Score
  • 80%Trees
  • 71%Wild
  • 1,917Species

Meerdaal

Belgium · 18 km

  • 66Forestyas Score
  • 72%Trees
  • 55%Wild
  • 1,500Species

See the guide

Halle Forest

Belgium · 13 km

  • 61Forestyas Score
  • 60%Trees
  • 59%Wild
  • 1,163Species

See the guide

Bois de la Cambre - Ter Kamerenbos

Belgium · 6 km

  • 58Forestyas Score
  • 51%Trees
  • 60%Wild
  • 1,783Species

See the guide

Where these figures come from

Name and typeWikidata (Q2254455) · CC0
Land coverESA WorldCover 10 m 2021 v200 · © ESA WorldCover project / Copernicus Sentinel data · CC BY 4.0
Species258,504 open records within 5 km (GBIF, CC0 and CC BY 4.0 only)
See these recordsgbif.org
Names and photosWikidata (CC0); GBIF Backbone Taxonomy · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
AltitudeCopernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA
Temperature and rainNASA POWER (CERES SYN1deg, 2001–2020; MERRA-2)
What is around© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Sister atlasesPeakyas, Darkskyas

Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.

The family

Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, canyons, caves, dark skies, viewpoints, birdwatching or forests?

Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, in seven languages.

beachesCoastyaFind your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit lakesLakeyasEvery lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Visit mountainsPeakyasEvery summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit waterfallsCascadyasEvery waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Visit islandsIslandyasEvery island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Visit riversRiveryasEvery river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit canyonsCanyonyasEvery canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit cavesCavernyasEvery cave with its real depth and length: the rock above, the temperature inside all year, and how to visit.Visit dark skiesDarkskyasWhere the night is still dark: the sky of every place, the Milky Way month by month, the Moon, eclipses and auroras.Visit
viewpointsViewyasEvery viewpoint with its real 360° panorama: the peaks you can name, how far you see and where the sun sets.Coming soonVisit
birdwatchingBirdyasEvery bird sanctuary and wetland with the species recorded month by month: who is resident, who comes for the summer, who only passes through.Visit
forestsForestyasEvery forest with its land-cover rings, what grows and lives in it, and the best months to walk it.You are here