The Grote Put and Kleine Put in Ekeren are two lakes that were created between 1920 and 1928 during the construction of the Antwerp-Noord Formation Station. Both lakes are fed by the Schoon Schijn river. The nearby Bospolder was originally part of the Antwerp Scheldt polders, but was reclaimed during port expansions. Today, the Bospolder consists of a varied landscape with grasslands, roughs, forests, marshes and shallow lakes. In the tenth and eleventh centuries, the dikes in the Antwerp salt marshes closed off the wet tidal areas from the higher grounds. In later periods, hellish storm surges such as the St. Felix flood and the All Saints' flood contributed to the creation of the current Western Scheldt. The storm surges broke through the Ekerse dike and created wheels or deepenings in the landscape. The wheels in the Bospolder remained untouched for a long time. Many residents of Ekeren came there to fish for eels in their younger years, but in the late 1960s the Bospolder was reclaimed as an extension for the harbour. After years of neglect, the city of Antwerp saw the importance of large nature reserves on the edge of the city. Thus, the Bospolder nature reserve was born from a collaboration with the Agency for Nature and Forests, the Flemish Land Agency and Natuurpunt.