Hardwoods and birds
If in a very distant time, Denmark consisted of vast forests mainly composed of lime trees, oaks, ashes, birches and elms, the arrival of a less cold and humid climate allowed the appearance of the beech tree, which is still very present in the Danish forests. Throughout history and the development of human activity, deforestation has radically changed the landscape: by 1600, the forest already represented only 20 to 25% of the territory, and only 4% in 1800!
In 1990, environmental measures have fortunately reversed these percentages by bringing back to 12% the forest area with a predominance of conifers, beech, oak and ash. Fruit trees are also present: butterfly trees, black elder trees, apple trees, including the old wolf's paw variety (North Seeland), birches and hazel trees. As for shrubs, there is a wide choice: holly, currants, "Queen of Denmark" or "Irene of Denmark" roses, an old variety dating back to the Middle Ages, resistant to the cold and very fragrant, hemlock elder, yew, common bramble, wood sorrel, wild garlic... The undergrowth prefers varieties of ferns and moss. In Valby Hegn (North Seeland), a carpet of white anemones blossoms every spring.
The moors and marshes are the habitat of many flowers, very often medicinal, sometimes edible: sea fennel, broomcress, nettles, large and medium plantain, daisies, Conopodium majus also called earth nut and consumed by man since prehistoric times, hops, dandelion, Danish cress which likes sand, Astragalus danicus which grows on chalk and sandstone, and meadow scabious.
In bogs, sphagnum mosses are the main component of these acidic, nutrient-poor wetlands. Other varieties seek out more mineralized waters. Reeds, grasses, Starmaker alfalfa of the rush family, with long blue-green persistent leaves and white vaporous flowers, or Drosera rotundifolia, carnivorous flowering plants feeding on insects attracted by the sweet drops covering its leaves. They are mostly hyalocysts, i.e. their wall is pierced with several pores (2 to 5) which allow to store water in the plant. Thus, sphagnum mosses can absorb up to 40 times their dry weight.
In the Faroe Islands , some 400 species constitute the floral heritage. More than half of them are common to Iceland, including one endemic species, theAlchemilla faeroensis, a perennial deciduous plant. The territory is essentially made up of moors and meadows. Woody species (shrubs or bushes) are almost non-existent. However, the pollen analysis of soils dating back 2500 years, thus before human settlement, revealed the presence of hazel and birch trees. The existing species were introduced by man, in particular the Austrian beech.
Danish wildlife
It must deal with a territory that human activity has profoundly modified. Today, 54% of this fauna is forest. Although it enjoys a favorable climate, since it is temperate, it remains weakened by a late management of the ecosystem: intensive agriculture and urbanization have had a negative effect on the preservation of many species. Nevertheless, the red deer reigns supreme in the undergrowth. This large deer, which has survived three ice ages, spreads its antlers majestically. The raven is another important inhabitant of the forest. Fifty years ago, it had almost disappeared. Today, this bird, identifiable by its metallic black plumage and impressive wingspan of up to 130 cm, is protected and once again widespread. Although it is present all year round, it never leaves its breeding area. Another peculiarity: it almost always flies in pairs and its croaking can be heard for miles around. Let's not forget that it played an important role in Nordic mythology. The two ravens, Hugin and Munin, were Odin's scouts, and the Raven Banner, the old Danish flag before Dannebrog, had a raven on a red background. Another widespread bird in Denmark, close to woodlands and meadows, is the buzzard, called the mouse warbler in Danish because it feeds mainly on rodents. There are about 5,000 pairs in Denmark and several thousand more crossing the country during winter migration. This richness of birds is partly linked to the geographical situation, between Scandinavia and the European continent, which allows many migratory birds a "connection of bridges" and places to rest before continuing their journey. Majestic swans are inseparable from the parks and gardens of the most beautiful Danish castles.
In the Faroe Islands, birds dominate with 300 species listed, nesting on cliffs and rocks (Northern Gannet, Magpie, Faroese Goose...). The most numerous are the puffins or "sea clowns", white and black seabirds, recognizable by their triangular beak with a red tip on a blue base. Other major species, the sheep, inseparable from the archipelago to which it gave its name; today there are still 70,000 of them, they were more than 600,000 in the 19th century! - and the Faroese horse, a small pony with very thick hair in winter, which had adapted to the terrain and climate, and whose race almost disappeared in the 1950s and 1960s.
More unusual is the butterfly safari at Valby Hegn, near Helsinge. At least 15 different species live in and around the forest. The golden ass with white wings and hairy body is one of them. It flies in August and September and lays its eggs on the branches of shrubs or fruit plants. The Agreste with brown and white mottled wings prefers heathered moors, clear woods or bushy places. The Sommerfugle park on the island of Bornholm will amaze lepidopterists. Other relatively rare insect species: the blood red callidia, a xylophagous beetle fond of dead wood or the Hercules ant, the largest in Denmark, preferring coniferous forests (Jutland N and Seeland N). It bears its name well: strongly built with a large head and a black body like a cuirass!
Protected areas
There are currently four national parks in Denmark and one terrestrial ecoregion in the Faroe Islands:
Thy National Park in North Jutland is nicknamed "the sand desert". Here 240 km² mainly composed of moorland and dunes. Created in 2007, it was the first Danish park. This dune landscape is not uniform, it is dynamic and its variations depend on the strength of the wind or physical conditions such as the lime content, the orientation of the slopes and the distance to the water table. The vegetation consists mainly of dwarf shrubs, crowberry and heather, but also gentian, the preferred habitat of the blue-winged butterfly, and oyat or "sand reed". The largest dunes are Hanstholm, Vangså and Alvand, where porcupines, otters and adders can be found, as well as a number of rare birds such as cranes, swans, the nightjar and the curlew. As a matter of interest, the fly is very present. During a study carried out in collaboration with the Natural History Museum of Aarhus, no less than 227 different species were listed, of which about 20 had never been found in Denmark before. The star: the giant Harald fly, the largest parasitic fly in Europe. It feeds on nectar and pollen.
The Mols Bjerge National Park, in eastern Jutland, is part of a vast landscape of 180 km2 that bears witness to the ice age. Moraine hills (moraine is a mixture of rock, sand and clay pushed by glaciers), rock piles and depressions filled with water after the ice melted. You can imagine rich pastures where sheep, wild Exmoor ponies (one of the oldest breeds in the world from the British Isles) and Galloway cows (an ancient breed with a long, curly black coat) graze. Biodiversity in the park is enhanced by some 40 of the 60 preserved habitats in the whole of Denmark. If you pay attention, you will see the very rare ladybug spider or ladybug erese, whose male can be easily recognized by its bright red abdomen marked with four black dots. Look up and you will see the red kite, another name for the red kite, a domesticated bird of prey mentioned as early as the 15th century.
The Wadden Sea National Park (2014) protects one of the world's largest tidal areas (hence the Unesco classification). Three countries are involved: the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark. This wild and unique landscape - a beautiful mix of islands, tidal channels, lagoons, mudflats and coastlines - is constantly changing shape and sometimes even location. Its high diversity of plant and animal life makes it one of the most productive ecosystems in the world. Its high biomass provides fish, seals (a colony of 500 on the islet of Fanø) and birds with all the food they need. The area is also a space frequented by nearly 10 to 12 million migratory birds that stop here in winter as well as in summer. Another extraordinary phenomenon to experience is the black sun. It occurs when flocks of starlings gather in a millimetre ballet to rest during the night in the reed beds of the marsh. Thousands of them (sometimes up to 500,000 at a time!) come to mask the light of the sunset, hence the name "black sun". Danish ornithologists also call it "the ballet of death" because this mass flight is used to protect themselves from predators such as peregrine falcons. It takes place during two weeks in March-April and another two weeks in September-October.
Kongernes Nordsjælland National Park (2014), in the Hovedstaden-Seeland region, is the second largest park in the country, with 246 km² of heathland and forest. It extends from the west, from Lake Arresø to the town of Gribskov in the north, from the Kattegat Strait in the southeast to the northern limits of the Copenhagen metropolitan area. Approximately 70% of the park has several Natura 2000 protection statuses. On the wildlife side, Holløse Bredning and the lakes of Arresø and Esrum are home to a large number of breeding birds, including a large colony of cormorants, as well as a population of wild beavers (extinct in Denmark, it was reintroduced in 2009). The Gribskov forest has the largest population of wild deer in Denmark. On the flora side, still in the Gribskov forest (5 500 ha), the oak is king. Many of them were planted after the Danish fleet was conquered by the British in 1807, in anticipation of building ships for new battles. Even if the trees are ready to be cut, besides the fact that the time of the liners is over, the cost of this type of construction is exorbitant. A single liner requires about 2,000 mature oaks, and a large, quality oak costs more than DKK 20,000!
Terrestrial ecoregion is the identification of theFaroe Islands archipelago in the classification of WWF, the World Wide Fund for Nature, in order to preserve its specificities under the name of "Faroe Islands boreal grasslands". An ecosystem, characterized by meadows, savannahs and temperate bushes of the Palearctic ecozone, very frequented by migratory birds.
Smart info: in the member countries of the European Union, Natura 2000 is a network that identifies natural or semi-natural sites with exceptional fauna and flora. In Denmark, at the end of 2018, there were 384 sites, including 124 Special Protection Areas (SPAs) for birds, covering an area of 14,664 km2, and 269 Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) for habitats and species, covering 19,781 km2.
