Mols Bjerge National Park or Nationalpark Mols Bjerge is a Danish national park in the area known as ''Mols Bjerge'' (Mols Hills, lit.: Mols Mountains) in Syddjurs Municipality, Central Jutland, inaugurated on 29 August 2009. The protected area, measures in size. The

Mols Mols is a small Danish gathering of hilly peninsulas in the southern part of the larger peninsula of Djursland on the east coast of Jutland. The largest peninsulas of Mols comprise Skødshoved to the west, and Helgenæs to the east. Mols' l ...

Hills, reaching a height of , are centrally located in the park, and take up 2,500 ha. "More than half of all wild Danish plant species" can be found at Mols Bjerge.

Legal status

The creation of the park - Denmark's second - was announced by Minister of the Environment

Troels Lund Poulsen Troels Lund Poulsen (born 30 March 1976 in Vejle) is a Danish politician, who is Minister for Economic Affairs and a member of the Folketing for the Venstre political party. He served as Minister for the Environment from 2007 to 2010, Min ...

on 17 January 2008. It was proposed that the park would be established under the Executive Order 789, dated 21 August 2009, into national law. The park was finally inaugurated by

Queen Margrethe II Margrethe II (; Margrethe Alexandrine Þórhildur Ingrid, born 16 April 1940) is Queen of Denmark. Having reigned as Denmark's monarch for over 50 years, she is Europe's longest-serving current head of state and the world's only incumbent femal ...

on 29 August 2009.

Geography

The park comprises most of the southern parts of the headland of

Djursland Djursland () is a 44 km × 33 km hilly lowland peninsula in Denmark at the entrance to the Baltic Sea, between Denmark and Sweden in Northern Europe. Djursland protrudes into the Kattegat sea, as part of the larger peninsula of Jutland, ...

. It is bounded on the east by the sea of

Kattegat The Kattegat (; sv, Kattegatt ) is a sea area bounded by the Jutlandic peninsula in the west, the Danish Straits islands of Denmark and the Baltic Sea to the south and the provinces of Bohuslän, Västergötland, Halland and Skåne in Sweden ...

, the forests of Kaløskovene in the west and to the south by multiple inlets, coves and plains of glacially generated moraine. The town of

Ebeltoft Ebeltoft is an old port town on the central east coast of Denmark with a population of 7,204 (1 January 2022).summer house residence areas, is considered part of the park. Land in the national park is held under both private and state ownership. Nearly 33% of the park is cultivated and 80% of the hill area is under private ownership. In addition to the natural attractions, the park also features an 18th-century manor and ruins of a 14th-century castle. Accessible by road, bicycle tracks and hiking trails, there are a number of designated parking areas throughout the park area. Mols Bjerge National Park has a rolling and widely varying topography of woodlands and open countryside, created at the end of the last

ice age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gre ...

. Elevation in the park area varies, rising to a maximum of in Mols Hills, with many types of habitats such as

heath A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a cooler a ...

, forests, pastures, bogs,

meadows A meadow ( ) is an open habitat, or field, vegetated by grasses, herbs, and other non-woody plants. Trees or shrubs may sparsely populate meadows, as long as these areas maintain an open character. Meadows may be naturally occurring or artificia ...

, a variety of coastal habitats and sea.

Attractions

Some of the attractions in the park are the forest areas of Skovbjerg, Strandkær, the ruins of

Kalø Castle Kalø Castle ( da, Kalø Slot) is a ruined castle located in eastern Jutland, in Denmark, 20 km from the city of Aarhus within Mols Bjerge National Park. History The castle was constructed in 1313 by the Danish king Erik Menved (Erik VI ...

, Ørnbjerg water mill, Jernhatten, Ahl Plantation, Bjørnkær-Egedal Forest, and the Kalø woodlands. As standing witnesses to the ancient Stone Age human habitation of the area, granite barrows,

dolmens A dolmen () or portal tomb is a type of single-chamber megalithic tomb, usually consisting of two or more upright megaliths supporting a large flat horizontal capstone or "table". Most date from the early Neolithic (40003000 BCE) and were somet ...

and passage graves used for burials of chieftains, can be seen throughout the landscape. The well-preserved burial mound of Stabelhøje (lit: Stack-hills), dates to the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...

The castle ruins in the southwest of the park area, are the remains of the old and once important

. It is situated strategically on the small island of Kalø and the route to the castle ruins includes a stretch of medieval road on a cobblestone embankment. The marina of Nappedam is located in the cove east of the embankment and on the shores of the mainland lie the Kalø woodlands of Hestehave and Ringelmose. Hestehave Wood presents opportunities for bird-watching and the Stone Age (

Funnelbeaker culture The Funnel(-neck-)beaker culture, in short TRB or TBK (german: Trichter(-rand-)becherkultur, nl, Trechterbekercultuur; da, Tragtbægerkultur; ) was an archaeological culture in north-central Europe. It developed as a technological merger of lo ...

)

long barrow Long barrows are a style of monument constructed across Western Europe in the fifth and fourth millennia BCE, during the Early Neolithic period. Typically constructed from earth and either timber or stone, those using the latter material repre ...

of Store Stenhøj. The coastal cliffs at Hestehave Wood supplied the clay for bricks, when Kalø Castle was built in the early 14th century and the forest here was probably planted later on in the 1500-1600s. Further inland, the former manor of Kalø Gods from the early 18th century and the hunting lodge of Jagslottet designed by architect

Hack Kampmann Hack Kampmann (6 September 1856 – 27 June 1920) was a Danish architect, Royal Inspector of Listed State Buildings in Jutland and professor at the architecture department of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. Marselisborg Palace in Aarhus, ...

in 1898 can be found. Jagtslottet was originally owned by the German Jenisch-family who used it for summer retreats. The Jenisch was well-liked in the region apparently, but after WW II German property in Denmark was confiscated in order to pay an estimated compensation claim of DK 11.6 billion. Now the secretariat of the national park takes residence at Jagtslottet, while Kalø Gods is owned by the state and holds several schools and an environmental administration.

The old farm of Strandkær in the middle of the park comprise the houses of Øvre and Nedre Strandkær (Upper and Lower Strandkær). Nedre Strandkær was built around 1730. The farmhouse now house the research activities on the national park and also functions as a training center for nature guides. Øvre Strandkær holds the Visitor Centre of the Danish Forest and Nature Agency. A trekking path leads from Strandkær through forests of pinewood and deciduous trees and across old grasslands pastures with grazing cattle. Trehoje i Mols Bjerge

The protected landscape south and east of the Strandkær visitor centre has a high concentration of tumuli. The open

and

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominated by grasses ( Poaceae). However, sedge ( Cyperaceae) and rush ( Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes, like clover, and other herbs. Grasslands occur na ...

together with the many hill tops, offers grand vistas of the entire region. Patches of woodland grows here and there, most of them young plantations, but the deciduous wood of Skovbjerg presents one of the few remnants of the ancient forest in the national park. Further south lies the cove of Begtrup Vig and the peninsula of Helgenæs. Begtrup vig is a protected Natura 2000 area, but visitors are welcome and the shallow cove offers good and safe opportunities for

snorkeling Snorkeling ( British and Commonwealth English spelling: snorkelling) is the practice of swimming on or through a body of water while equipped with a diving mask, a shaped breathing tube called a snorkel, and usually swimfins. In cooler waters ...

and

windsurfing Windsurfing is a wind propelled water sport that is a combination of sailing and surfing. It is also referred to as "sailboarding" and "boardsailing", and emerged in the late 1960s from the aerospace and surf culture of California. Windsurfing ga ...

. Helgenæs is not part of the national park.

used to house several water mills. The village of Femmøller (lit.: Five-mills) a few kilometres north of Strandkær, sprawled around a total of five water mills. None of the mills are left today, but the millponds and the timber-framed houses of the old village can still be experienced. Nowadays Ørnbjerg Mølle further east, is the only functioning water mill in the park area. Located to the south of Feldballe and enclosed within a forested area, it is run by a group of volunteers. The current timber-framed buildings date to 1833, but there has been a mill here since the 16th century. It works as a

grain mill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that has been separated ...

, powered by the Ulstrup Stream. The path to the mill follows the valley to Stubbe Lake, the largest lake in

Jernhatten (English: The Iron Hat) is a view point on the coast of the

sea, in the eastern parts of the park. The cliff above the sea has a drop of . The formation is very hard and not erodible by sea waves. From the car parking area, the site is approached along a track passing through the beechwood of Troldeskoven (English: The Troll Forest). The hill offers panoramic views of the surrounding area and across the

sea with the small island of Hjelm in the southeast. The path to Jernhatten leads onwards to the hills of Hyllested Bjerge, the forest of Bagskoven and down to the beach. The seafloor along the coast here, comprise a cold water stony reef with an extensive

kelp forest Kelp forests are underwater areas with a high density of kelp, which covers a large part of the world's coastlines. Smaller areas of anchored kelp are called kelp beds. They are recognized as one of the most productive and dynamic ecosystems on Ea ...

known as the ''Blak'', offering good

opportunities in the summer months.

Harbour porpoise The harbour porpoise (''Phocoena phocoena'') is one of eight extant species of porpoise. It is one of the smallest species of cetacean. As its name implies, it stays close to coastal areas or river estuaries, and as such, is the most familiar ...

s may be visible as well. The woodlands of Bjørnkær-Egedal Forest and Ahl Plantation are both situated near Ebeltoft. Just south of Ebeltoft is also the small woodland of Tolløkke Wood. It is the only remaining patch of old forest on the entire Ebeltoft-peninsula and presents many large and old trees. Deciduous trees such as beech,

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

, ash,

black alder Black alder is a common name for several plants and may refer to: *''Alnus glutinosa ''Alnus glutinosa'', the common alder, black alder, European alder, European black alder, or just alder, is a species of tree in the family Betulaceae, nativ ...

and

willow Willows, also called sallows and osiers, from the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 400 speciesMabberley, D.J. 1997. The Plant Book, Cambridge University Press #2: Cambridge. of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist so ...

dominate and the forest floor is covered with plants that can only thrive in ancient woodlands, such as the white-flowered Wood Anemone, the purple Early Dog-violet or the yellow

Lesser celandine ''Ficaria verna'' (formerly ''Ranunculus ficaria'' ), commonly known as lesser celandine or pilewort, is a low-growing, hairless perennial flowering plant in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae native to Europe and Western Asia. It has fleshy dar ...

. Many trees are covered with the non-parasitic common ivy and cavity nesting birds like great spotted woodpecker thrives here. Tolløkke Wood has been in possession of the citizens of Ebeltoft for centuries and it used to house summertime celebrations at ''Skovpavillionen'' - a dance

pavilion In architecture, ''pavilion'' has several meanings: * It may be a subsidiary building that is either positioned separately or as an attachment to a main building. Often it is associated with pleasure. In palaces and traditional mansions of Asia ...

in the midst of the forest. Bjørnkær-Egedal Forest was previously an important oak forest owned by the Crown, but it was deforested for firewood to produce salt during the wars of the 1660s and 1670s with Sweden. The forest was replanted in 1940-45 during the

German occupation German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly occupied and civil-occupied (including puppet governments) by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 an ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, as a labour project for the unemployed. Now species of conifer dominate, but various deciduous trees are mixed in, such as beech. Bjørnkær-Egedal Wood is situated just east of Ebeltoft in the hilly terrain of ''Skelhøje'', offering scenic views of the landscape of this region. Ahl Plantation is a coastal forest planted in the later part of the 19th century on a large depositional protrusion southwest of Ebeltoft and comprise both

salt marsh A salt marsh or saltmarsh, also known as a coastal salt marsh or a tidal marsh, is a coastal ecosystem in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and open saltwater or brackish water that is regularly flooded by the tides. It is domin ...

and woodland. The sturdy

mountain pine ''Pinus mugo'', known as bog pine, creeping pine, dwarf mountain pine, mugo pine, mountain pine, scrub mountain pine, or Swiss mountain pine, is a species of conifer, native to high elevation habitats from southwestern to Central Europe and S ...

dominate the 110 ha forest, but oak and birch is mixed in. Green woodpecker is common here, indulging in the many ant-heaps of the forest. The northward shores are very shallow and attracts flocks of foraging gulls and

wading birds 245px, A flock of Dunlins and Red knots">Red_knot.html" ;"title="Dunlins and Red knot">Dunlins and Red knots Waders or shorebirds are birds of the order Charadriiformes commonly found wikt:wade#Etymology 1, wading along shorelines and mudflat ...

such as

lapwing Lapwings (subfamily Vanellinae) are any of various ground-nesting birds (family Charadriidae) akin to plovers and dotterels. They range from in length, and are noted for their slow, irregular wingbeats in flight and a shrill, wailing cry. A gro ...

curlew The curlews () are a group of nine species of birds in the genus ''Numenius'', characterised by their long, slender, downcurved bills and mottled brown plumage. The English name is imitative of the Eurasian curlew's call, but may have been in ...

oystercatcher The oystercatchers are a group of waders forming the family Haematopodidae, which has a single genus, ''Haematopus''. They are found on coasts worldwide apart from the polar regions and some tropical regions of Africa and South East Asia. The ...

and

ringed plover The common ringed plover or ringed plover (''Charadrius hiaticula'') is a small plover that breeds in Arctic Eurasia. The genus name ''Charadrius'' is a Late Latin word for a yellowish bird mentioned in the fourth-century Vulgate. It derives from ...

. Some of the trenches and bunkers built here during the war of 1801–1814 against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, can still be seen today. Similar constructions exists at

Ebeltoft Ebeltoft is an old port town on the central east coast of Denmark with a population of 7,204 (1 January 2022).Randers Randers () is a city in Randers Municipality, Central Denmark Region on the Jutland peninsula. It is Denmark's sixth-largest city, with a population of 62,802 (as of 1 January 2022).Samsø Samsø (Anglicized: "Samso" or "Samsoe") is a Danish island in the Kattegat off the Jutland Peninsula. Samsø is located in Samsø municipality. The community has 3,724 inhabitants (2017) (January 2010:4,010) called ''Samsings'' and is 114&n ...

Gallery

Kalø Slotsruin med flok af kragefugle.jpg, Kalø Castle Ruin Egens Vig, vue revet fra ruin.JPG, Bight of Egens Mols Bjerge, frossen vej.jpg, Hills of Mols File:Helgenaes og Begtrup Vig.jpg, Begtrup Cove and the peninsula of

Helgenæs Helgenæs is a peninsula, approximately twenty square kilometres in size, stretching out from Mols in Denmark. Mols is itself part of the large peninsula of Djursland, in the middle of the Kattegat sea between Denmark and Sweden. West of ...

Begtrup Vig kysttur.JPG, Bight of Begtrup. File:08-10-06-r1-Agri.jpg, The village of Agri Øjesø total efterår 4.JPG, Øjesø (lit: Eye-lake) a forest lake. Ebeltoft Vig fra Femmøller Strand.jpg, Summer at the beach of Femmøller Strand. Ebeltoft Town Hall.jpg, The old city hall in Ebeltoft. Ebeltoft Vig fra Dragsmur2.JPG, Bight of Ebeltoft File:Island-of-Hjelm.JPG, The desolate island of Hjelm File:Stabelhøje Mols Bjerge Djursland.jpg, Stabelhøje view from top of southern Dolmen towards the northern Dolmen

Flora and fauna

Mols Bjerge National Park contains many rare or threatened species and nature-types and a large part of the park is to be preserved as Natura 2000. One of the reasons to establish the park was to protect and collectively administer separate and fragmented areas. Agriculture has marked the entire landscape and ecosystem of Mols very heavily for centuries and only small patches and remnants of the former ancient woodland exist nowadays. It can still be experienced here in forests like Tolløkke Skov or Skovbjerg (lit: Wood-Hill), an oak-dominated woodland. Even though Skovbjerg is an ancient woodland, the habitat has been subject to a cyclical use of “grazing and timbering” for centuries and young scrub and open grasslands are around. In recent years, an area of has been subject to beef cattle grazing to a moderate degree. In Denmark, 10% of the forest-preserved land is allowed to be used for

wood pasture Silvopasture (''silva'' is forest in Latin) is the practice of integrating trees, forage, and the grazing of domesticated animals in a mutually beneficial way. It utilizes the principles of managed grazing, and it is one of several distinct forms ...

s in order to maintain and create stable woodland

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syste ...

s. The forest habitat of Skovbjerg consists of old acidophilous woodland of

pedunculate oak ''Quercus robur'', commonly known as common oak, pedunculate oak, European oak or English oak, is a species of flowering plant in the beech and oak family, Fagaceae. It is a large tree, native to most of Europe west of the Caucasus. It is widel ...

(''Quercus robur''), characterized by a low diversity of

vascular plants Vascular plants (), also called tracheophytes () or collectively Tracheophyta (), form a large group of land plants ( accepted known species) that have lignified tissues (the xylem) for conducting water and minerals throughout the plant. They ...

, but many different

epiphytic An epiphyte is an organism that grows on the surface of a plant and derives its moisture and nutrients from the air, rain, water (in marine environments) or from debris accumulating around it. The plants on which epiphytes grow are called phoroph ...

lichens A lichen ( , ) is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi species in a mutualistic relationship.Roe deer The roe deer (''Capreolus capreolus''), also known as the roe, western roe deer, or European roe, is a species of deer. The male of the species is sometimes referred to as a roebuck. The roe is a small deer, reddish and grey-brown, and well-adapt ...

are the only larger grazing animal observed here. It has a population density of 20 deer per km². Important wildlife flora in the national park includes plants such as the pasque flower, catchfly, and cudweed. Threatened nature habitats like beach meadows, coastal

and

es holds important flora and fauna to be protected. A large number of rare and threatened fungi species has been found in Mols Bjerge National Park, some of them nowhere else in the country. The mammals in the park include red fox, hare,

roe deer The roe deer (''Capreolus capreolus''), also known as the roe, western roe deer, or European roe, is a species of deer. The male of the species is sometimes referred to as a roebuck. The roe is a small deer, reddish and grey-brown, and well-adapt ...

, alongside reptiles like the

viviparous lizard The viviparous lizard, or common lizard, (''Zootoca vivipara'', formerly ''Lacerta vivipara''), is a Eurasian lizard. It lives farther north than any other species of non-marine reptile, and is named for the fact that it is viviparous, meaning ...

and the

European adder ''Vipera berus'', the common European adderMallow D, Ludwig D, Nilson G. (2003). ''True Vipers: Natural History and Toxinology of Old World Vipers''. Malabar, Florida: Krieger Publishing Company. . or common European viper,Stidworthy J. (1974). ...

. There are rich and varied populations of birds in the park area, ranging from sea birds, waders, forest birds, cavity nesting birds to

birds of prey Birds of prey or predatory birds, also known as raptors, are hypercarnivorous bird species that actively hunt and feed on other vertebrates (mainly mammals, reptiles and other smaller birds). In addition to speed and strength, these predat ...

at the top of the

food chain A food chain is a linear network of links in a food web starting from producer organisms (such as grass or algae which produce their own food via photosynthesis) and ending at an apex predator species (like grizzly bears or killer whales), de ...

. File:Orchis morio in natural monument Svaté Pole in spring 2012 (18).JPG,

Green-winged orchid ''Anacamptis morio'', the green-winged orchid or green-veined orchid ( synonym ''Orchis morio''), is a flowering plant of the orchid family, Orchidaceae. It usually has purple flowers, and is found in Europe and the Middle East. Description It f ...

. File:2007-10-06 Hygrocybe calyptriformis 369513.jpg, Pink waxcap. File:Vortebider.jpg, Wart-biter. File:Hvepseedderkop.jpg, Wasp spider. File:2011-04-17 14-16-09 Switzerland Kanton Schaffhausen Gennersbrunn 2.jpg,

Red kite The red kite (''Milvus milvus'') is a medium-large bird of prey in the family Accipitridae, which also includes many other diurnal raptors such as eagles, buzzards, and harriers. The species currently breeds in the Western Palearctic region o ...

. File:Jernhatten-8.jpg, Jernhatten has a special steppe-like ecology. File:Kysthede-Øer-2009-10-29-1.jpg, Coastal heath at Øer. File:Betula-Pinus-vegetation-Djursland-1.jpg, Spontaneous pine and birch vegetations. File:Overdrev 3.JPG,

Meadows A meadow ( ) is an open habitat, or field, vegetated by grasses, herbs, and other non-woody plants. Trees or shrubs may sparsely populate meadows, as long as these areas maintain an open character. Meadows may be naturally occurring or artificia ...

File:Strandeng.JPG, The beach meadows near Ebeltoft.

Sources and references

;Bibliography * * * * ;References

External links

Official website
{{authority control National parks of Denmark Syddjurs Municipality Tourist attractions in Denmark Tourist attractions in the Central Denmark Region