Giber Å is a long stream in

Aarhus Municipality Aarhus Municipality ( da, Aarhus Kommune), known as Århus Municipality ( da, Århus Kommune) until 2011, is a municipality in Central Denmark Region, on the east coast of the Jutland peninsula in central Denmark. The municipality covers an area ...

. Giber Å and surroundings is a protected

Natura 2000 Natura 2000 is a network of nature protection areas in the territory of the European Union. It is made up of Special Areas of Conservation and Special Protection Areas designated under the Habitats Directive and the Birds Directive, respectively ...

site. The protection is mainly located in the

Marselisborg Forests Marselisborg Forests ( da, Marselisborgskovene), or simply Marselisborg Forest, is a forest to the south of Aarhus City in the Kingdom of Denmark. Many present day sources now includes the forest of Fløjstrup, as part of the Marselisborg Fores ...

approximately 4 miles south of the city of

Aarhus Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Århus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and approximately northwest ...

Course

Giber Å springs from the bog of Testrup Mose, south of the suburb

Tranbjerg Tranbjerg J is a town in Aarhus in Denmark. "J" is for Jutland to distinguish this place from a similarly named place on Zealand, and is not used in daily parlance. History Tranbjerg was formerly a small rural village but is now a suburb of Aar ...

, and runs through the town of

Mårslet Mårslet is a railway town in Denmark, located about south of Aarhus. It has a population of 5,004 (1 January 2022). Mårslet is located in Aarhus Municipality and therefore is part of the Central Denmark Region. Mårslet is situated on the hist ...

, past Vilhelmsborg Manor, before winding through Vilhelmsborg Forest and Moesgård Forest, to finally empty in

Aarhus Bay The Bay of Aarhus, or Aarhus Bay, is a Danish waterway by Aarhus in eastern Jutland. The Bay of Aarhus is bounded by Kalø Vig in the north, Sletterhage and Helgenæs in the east, Samsø and Tunø to the south and the east Jutland coast to the w ...

Moesgård Beach Moesgård Beach is a public Blue Flag beach in Aarhus Municipality in Denmark. The beach is located in the southern outskirts of Aarhus in the Marselisborg Forests on the Bay of Aarhus in the suburb of Højbjerg. Helgenæs lies across the bay to th ...

. The smaller streams of ''Ballebæk'', ''Morsebæk'', ''Hovedgrøften'' and ''Kapelbæk'' merges with Giber Å along its way, and the stream is also fed by the water treatment plants of the area. Since medieval times, Giber Å has marked the border between Beder and Mårslet Parishes, and today the stream outlines the northern border of the local municipal administrative area "Beder-Malling-Ajstrup". Giber Å is unregulated, although it has through time been used by water treatment plants at Vilhelmsborg, Fulden Mill and

Moesgård Forest Mill Moesgård Forest Mill ( da, Moesgård Skovmølle or just '' da, Skovmøllen'') is a mill and a listed building in Aarhus, Denmark. The mill was built in 1785 and was listed on the Danish registry of protected buildings and places by the Danish ...

. North of the mouth of the stream is a flat valley which stretches to the stone dykes at Moesgård Forest. The area is open and managed as a recreational area with scattered trees and solitary conifers (''Juniperus communis'').

Ecology

In 2004, Moesgård Beach, by the outlet of Giber Å, was one of 18 Danish beaches hit by a bathing moratorium due to high levels of

E. coli ''Escherichia coli'' (),Wells, J. C. (2000) Longman Pronunciation Dictionary. Harlow ngland Pearson Education Ltd. also known as ''E. coli'' (), is a Gram-negative, facultative anaerobic, rod-shaped, coliform bacterium of the genus ''Escher ...

bacteria, stemming from the municipal water treatment plants that use the stream as a recipient. Regardless,

sea trout Sea trout is the common name usually applied to anadromous (sea-run) forms of brown trout (''Salmo trutta''), and is often referred to as ''Salmo trutta'' morpha ''trutta''. Other names for anadromous brown trout are sewin (Wales), peel or peal ...

travel through Giber Å and can be found in the streams that feed it. Trout has been found as far upstream as ''Hovedgrøften'' and ''Kapelbæk'', a stream originating in ''Hørret Forest''.

works with locals to establish

fish ladder A fish ladder, also known as a fishway, fish pass, fish steps, or fish cannon is a structure on or around artificial and natural barriers (such as dams, locks and waterfalls) to facilitate diadromous fishes' natural migration as well as movemen ...

s to improve conditions for fish in the stream. The

white-throated dipper The white-throated dipper (''Cinclus cinclus''), also known as the European dipper or just dipper, is an aquatic passerine bird found in Europe, Middle East, Central Asia and the Indian Subcontinent. The species is divided into several subspecies ...

winters in Denmark and can be found at Giber Å and associated streams. Giber Å has in periods had a very low water level due to water being redirected to agriculture and household use. The former

Århus County Aarhus County or Århus County ( da, Århus Amt) is a former county of Denmark (Danish: ''amt'') on the Jutland peninsula. It was created in 1970 by a merger of three counties: Århus, Randers and Skanderborg. The county was abolished effective ...

decided the stream could be supplemented with water from a rain water basin in Tranbjerg and if necessary

groundwater Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available freshwater in the world is groundwater. A unit of rock or an unconsolidate ...

Gallery

File:Giber-Å-2.jpg, At Vilhelmsborg File:Fulden Mølle.jpg, Fulden Mill File:Giber-Å-3.jpg, Entering Moesgård Forest File:Giber Å (Moesgård Skov).jpg, In Moesgård Forest File:Moesgård Skovmølle møllehus.jpg, At ''Skovmøllen'' water mill in Moesgård Forest File:Giber å i Moesgård Skov.JPG, In Moesgård Forest File:Fiskerhuset Moesgård.jpg, River mouth File:Giner Ås udløb .jpg, At Moesgård Beach ;In art File:Janus la Cour - Aaløb i Moesgaard Skov - 1885.png, "''Aaløb i Moesgaard Skov''" by

Janus la Cour Janus Andreas Bartholin la Cour (5 September 1837 – 13 October 1909) was a Danish painter who is remembered for his landscapes painted in the classical style of the Eckersberg school. Biography Born near Ringkøbing, he spent much of his earl ...

(1885). File:Janus la Cour, Stille sommeraften ved åens udløb i havet, 1892, Aarhus Rådhus.jpg, "''Stille sommeraften ved åens udløb i havet''" by Janus la Cour (1892).

References

External links

* {{url, http://www.aarhuslystfiskerforening.dk/fiskevand/giber-aa, Aarhus Angler Club info on Giber Å Rivers of Denmark Geography of Aarhus Natura 2000 in Denmark