Hardwoods and birds
In the distant past, Denmark consisted of vast forests of linden, oak, ash, birch and elm, but the arrival of a less cold and humid climate led to the appearance of beech, which is still very present in Danish forests. Over the course of history and the development of human activity, deforestation has radically altered the landscape: by 1600, forests already represented only 20-25% of the land area, and only 4% by 1800!
By 2021, environmental measures (taken since 1990) have fortunately reversed these percentages, reducing the forest area to 16%, with a predominance of conifers, beech, oak and ash. Fruit trees are also present: butterfly trees, black elder trees, apple trees, including the old variety Patte de loup (North Seeland), birch and hazel. There's a wide choice of shrubs: holly, redcurrants, "Queen of Denmark" roses or "Irene of Denmark", an ancient variety dating back to the Middle Ages, resistant to the cold and highly fragrant, hemlock elder, yew, common bramble, wood sorrel, wild garlic... The undergrowth favours varieties of ferns and mosses. In Valby Hegn (northern Seeland), a carpet of white anemones blooms every spring.
Heaths and marshes are the habitat of many flowers, often medicinal, sometimes edible: sea fennel, broomrape, nettles, tall and medium plantain, daisies, Conopodium majus , also known as ground hazelnut and eaten by man since prehistoric times, hops, dandelion, sand-loving Danish cress, Astragalus danicus , which grows on chalk and sandstone, and meadow scabious.
In peat bogs, sphagnum mosses are the main component of these acidic, nutrient-poor wetlands. Other varieties thrive in more mineralized waters. Reeds, grasses, Starmaker alfalfa of the rush family, with long, persistent blue-green leaves and vaporous white flowers, or Drosera rotundifolia, carnivorous flowering plants that feed on insects attracted by the sweet drops covering their leaves. Sphagnum mosses are mainly hyalocysts, i.e. their walls are pierced by several pores (2 to 5) that store water in the plant. Sphagnum mosses can absorb up to 40 times their dry weight.
In the Faroe Islands , some 400 species make up the floral heritage. More than half of these are common to Iceland, including the endemicAlchemilla faeroensis, a deciduous perennial. The territory is essentially made up of moorland and meadows. Non-tree woody species (shrubs or bushes) are almost non-existent. However, pollen analysis of soil dating back 2500 years, i.e. before human settlement, has revealed the presence of hazel and birch trees. Existing species were introduced by man, notably the Austrian beech.
Danish wildlife
It has to cope with a territory that human activity has profoundly altered. Today, 54% of this fauna is forest-dwelling. Although it enjoys a favorable temperate climate, it has been weakened by late ecosystem management: intensive agriculture and urbanization have had a detrimental effect on the preservation of many species. Nevertheless, the red deer reigns supreme in the undergrowth. This large cervid, which has survived three ice ages, unfurls its antlers majestically. The raven is another important forest inhabitant. 50 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 present all year round, it never strays far from its breeding grounds. Another peculiarity: it almost always flies in pairs, and its croak can be heard for miles around. Let's not forget that it played an important role in Norse mythology. The two ravens, Hugin and Munin, were Odin's scouts, and the Raven Banner, the old Danish flag before Dannebrog, featured 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. Around 5,000 pairs live in Denmark, with several thousand more crossing the country on winter migration. This wealth of birdlife is partly due to the country's geographical location, between Scandinavia and continental Europe, which provides many migratory birds with a "bridge connection" and places to rest before continuing their journey. Majestic swans are inseparable from the parks and gardens of Denmark's finest castles.
In the Faroe Islands, birds dominate, with 300 species recorded, nesting on cliffs and rocks (gannets, magpies, oystercatchers, Faroese geese, etc.). 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 include the sheep, inseparable from the archipelago to which it gave its name; even today, there are 70,000 of them, compared with over 600,000 in the 19th century! - and the Faroese horse, a small pony with very thick hair in winter, which has adapted to the terrain and climate, and whose breed almost became extinct in the 1950s-1960s.
More unusual is the butterfly safari at Valby Hegn, near Helsinge. At least 15 different species live in and around the forest. The white-winged, hairy-bodied Golden Ass is one of them. It flies in August and September and lays its eggs on the twigs of shrubby or fruit-bearing plants. The tawny-winged Agreste, mottled brown and white, prefers heather moors, open woods and bushy areas. The Sommerfugle park on the island of Bornholm will delight lepidopterists. Other relatively rare insect species include the blood-red callid beetle, a xylophagous beetle that loves dead wood, and the Hercules ant, Denmark's largest, which prefers coniferous forests (Jutland N and Seeland N). It lives up to its name: strongly built, with a broad head and a black body like a breastplate!
Protected areas
There are currently four national parks in Denmark and a terrestrial ecoregion in the Faroe Islands:
Thy National Park in North Jutland is nicknamed "the sand desert". It covers 240 km² of mainly moorland and dunes. Created in 2007, it was Denmark's first park. This dune landscape is not uniform, but dynamic, and its variations depend on wind strength and physical conditions such as lime content, slope orientation and distance from the water table. The vegetation consists mainly of dwarf shrubs, crowberry and heather, as well as gentian, the preferred habitat of the bluish-winged butterfly Azure des mouillères or Petit bleu des marais, and oyat or "sand reed". The largest dunes are Hanstholm, Vangså and Alvand, home to porcupines, otters and adders, and a number of rare birds such as cranes, swans, the nightjar and the curlew. Anecdotally, as far as insects are concerned, the fly is very present. In a study carried out in collaboration with the Aarhus Museum of Natural History, no fewer than 227 different species were inventoried, including some 20 never before found in Denmark. The star: the giant Harald fly, Europe's largest parasitic fly. It feeds on nectar and pollen.
Mols Bjerge National Park, in eastern Jutland, is part of a vast 180 km2 landscape 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 grazed by sheep, wild Exmoor ponies (one of the world's oldest breeds from the British Isles) and Galloway cows (an ancient breed with a long, curly black coat). Biodiversity in the park is enhanced by some 40 of the 60 habitats listed throughout Denmark. If you pay close attention, you'll see the very rare ladybug spider, whose male can be easily recognized by its bright red abdomen marked with four black dots. Look up and you'll 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 zones (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 rich diversity of plant and animal life makes it one of the world's most productive ecosystems. 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 frequented by some 10 to 12 million migratory birds, which stop here in both winter and summer. Another extraordinary phenomenon is the black sun. This occurs when flocks of starlings gather in a precise ballet to rest for the night in the marsh reed beds. Thousands of them (sometimes as many as 500,000 at a time!) mask the light of sunset, hence the name "black sun". Danish ornithologists also call it the "ballet of death", as this mass flight serves to protect the birds from predators such as peregrine falcons. It takes place over two weeks in March-April and a further two weeks in September-October.
Kongernes Nordsjælland National Park (2014), in the Hovedstaden-Seeland region, is the country's second largest park, with 246 km² of heathland and forest. It stretches from Lake Arresø in the west to the town of Gribskov in the north, from the Strait of Kattegat in the southeast to the northern limits of the Copenhagen metropolitan area. Around 70% of the park is protected by Natura 2000. In terms of wildlife, Holløse Bredning and the Arresø and Esrum lakes are home to a large number of nesting birds - including a large colony of cormorants - as well as a population of wild beavers (extinct in Denmark, reintroduced in 2009). Gribskov Forest is home to Denmark's largest population of wild fallow deer. In terms of flora, the oak is king in Gribskov Forest (5,500 ha). Many were planted after the British conquered the Danish fleet in 1807, in preparation for building ships for new battles. Even if the trees are ready for cutting, apart from the fact that the time for liners is over, the cost of this type of construction is exorbitant. A single liner requires around 2,000 mature oak trees, and a large, quality oak costs over DKK 20,000!
Terrestrial ecoregion: this is how theFaroe archipelago is classified by WWF, the World Wide Fund for Nature, in order to preserve its special characteristics under the name of "Faroese boreal grasslands". This ecosystem, characterized by the temperate grasslands, savannahs and scrublands of the Palearctic ecozone, is very popular with migratory birds.
Useful information: in the member countries of the European Union, Natura 2000 is a network of natural or semi-natural sites with exceptional flora and fauna. In Denmark, at the end of 2022, there were 250 sites comprising Special Protection Areas (SPAs) for birds, covering an area of 14,664 km2, and Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) for habitats and species, covering an area of 19,781 km2.
In 2023, along with 196 other countries and the European Union, Denmark signed the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, adopted at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992. Its aim: to conserve biological diversity, promote the sustainable use of natural resources and ensure the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources.
