Skjoldhøjkilen is a recreational and natural site, in the district of

Brabrand Brabrand () is a postal district of Aarhus Municipality, Denmark. South of Brabrand, in the Aarhus river-valley, is the largest recreational area of Aarhus Municipality, comprising the Brabrand Lake and the meadow-lake of Årslev, with surroundi ...

in the western part 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, Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and app ...

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

. It stretches westwards from Hasle Hills, like a wavy green strip of

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 they maintain an open character. Meadows can occur naturally under favourable condition ...

, small lakes and woodlands. It is 3.5 km long and just as Hasle Hills, it is administered by the self-governing institution 'Hasle Bakker'.

Reconstruction

The landscape and nature of Skjoldhøjkilen was recently restored and recreated in a series of five construction projects finished in 2005. The projects comprised

afforestation Afforestation is the establishment of a forest or stand of trees in an area where there was no recent tree cover. There are three types of afforestation: natural Regeneration (biology), regeneration, agroforestry and Tree plantation, tree plan ...

s, restoration of the stream of Voldbækken, construction of multipurpose rainwater reservoirs, and various road constructions. As a consequence, Skjoldhøjkilen now constitutes a connected woodland area with the newly raised forest of True Skov to the west, thereby constituting a large green wedge of nature cutting its way into the city from the countryside. This is all part of the implementation of Aarhus Municipality's agenda "Aarhus surrounded by forests" and "The Green Mainstructure", initiated in 1988 and resulting in the New Forests of Aarhus. The total woodland-area of Skjoldhøjkilen and True Skov, is comparable in size to the

Marselisborg Forests Marselisborg Forests (), 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 Forests, upping the total area ...

, south of Aarhus.

The activity landscape

Together with Hasle Hills, Skjoldhøjkilen forms a so-called 'activity landscape' and is so far the only one of its kind in Denmark. The activity landscape have been designed to facilitate play, learning, exercise and various recreational activities for citizens of all ages in Aarhus and the project have been financed by

Realdania Realdania is a private association in Denmark which supports projects in architecture and planning. It was established in 2000 following the sale of Realkredit Danmark to Danske Bank, when a fund of approximately 20 billion kroner (EUR 2.7 billio ...

and the former Ministry for Integration. The activity landscape was inaugurated 25 May 2009. As in Hasle Hills, Skjoldhøjkilen has established mountain bike routes, which are marked to avoid conflict with other users of the area. There are several play areas, exercise apparatus and public shelters, scattered across the landscape and the whole area is designed for public recreational use of all kinds. Every summer, the small music festival of Danmarks Grimmeste Festival is held at a private farm situated in Skjoldhøjkilen.

Nature

The reconstruction and restorations of Skjoldhøjkilen has been successful in attracting and supporting a rich and varied flora and fauna in the area.

Wetlands

The stream of Voldbækken has been relieved from a burden of urban pollution and excessive nutrients, threatening the stream with

eutrophication Eutrophication is a general term describing a process in which nutrients accumulate in a body of water, resulting in an increased growth of organisms that may deplete the oxygen in the water; ie. the process of too many plants growing on the s ...

. These improvements now invites the

brown trout The brown trout (''Salmo trutta'') is a species of salmonid ray-finned fish and the most widely distributed species of the genus ''Salmo'', endemic to most of Europe, West Asia and parts of North Africa, and has been widely introduced globally ...

in the

Aarhus River Aarhus River () is a long river, in eastern Jutland, Denmark. The river flows through the large river valley of Aarhus Ådal. The valley itself, stretches from Silkeborg to the coastal city of Aarhus, but the Aarhus River only runs through the e ...

to spawn here. Some of the rainwater basins supports fish like

common roach The roach, or rutilus roach (''Rutilus rutilus''), also known as the common roach, is a fresh- and brackish-water fish of the family Cyprinidae, native to most of Europe and western Asia. Fish called roach can be any species of the genera ''Rut ...

and

abramis The common bream (''Abramis brama''), also known as the freshwater bream, bream, bronze bream, carp bream or sweaty bream, is a European species of freshwater fish in the family Leuciscidae. It is now considered to be the only species in the ...

and various protected

amphibians Amphibians are ectothermic, anamniote, anamniotic, tetrapod, four-limbed vertebrate animals that constitute the class (biology), class Amphibia. In its broadest sense, it is a paraphyletic group encompassing all Tetrapod, tetrapods, but excl ...

northern crested newt The northern crested newt, great crested newt or warty newt (''Triturus cristatus'') is a newt species native to Great Britain, northern and central continental Europe and parts of Western Siberia. It is a large newt, with females growing up to ...

. The wetlands attracts many species of insects and birds, with numerous

duck Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family (biology), family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and goose, geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfam ...

s and

Eurasian coot The Eurasian coot (''Fulica atra''), also known as the common coot, or Australian coot, is a member of the rail and crake bird family, the Rallidae. It is found in Europe, Asia, Australia, New Zealand and parts of North Africa. It has a slaty-bla ...

s. Solitary

grey heron The grey heron (''Ardea cinerea'') is a long-legged wading bird of the heron family, Ardeidae, native throughout temperate Europe and Asia, and also parts of Africa. It is resident in much of its range, but some populations from the more norther ...

s are regularly seen here, hunting for fish. Skjoldhøjkilen has a rich population of

European tree frog The European tree frog (''Hyla arborea'') is a small tree frog. As traditionally defined, it was found throughout much of Europe, Asia and northern Africa, but based on molecular genetic and other data several populations formerly included in it ...

s - which is uncommon in Denmark - and the soft, nutritious wet earth is popular with

mole Mole (or Molé) may refer to: Animals * Mole (animal) or "true mole" * Golden mole, southern African mammals * Marsupial mole Marsupial moles, the Notoryctidae family, are two species of highly specialized marsupial mammals that are found i ...

Alder swamp

There is an alder carr of

black alder Black alder is a common name for several plants and may refer to: *''Alnus glutinosa'', native to Europe and widely naturalized *''Ilex verticillata ''Ilex verticillata'', the winterberry, is a species of holly native to eastern North America in ...

in Skjoldhøjkilen. Alder swamps are one of the primeval forest types of Denmark. Skjoldhøjkilen supports many species of the ''

Corvidae Corvidae is a Cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan Family (biology), family of Songbird, oscine passerine birds that contains the crows, ravens, Rook (bird), rooks, magpies, jackdaws, jays, treepies, choughs, and Nutcracker (bird), nutcrackers ...

'' and the alder swamp is home to a noisy colony of rooks.

Gallery

File:Vista of a lake.jpg, Skjoldhøjkilen is dotted with small ponds. File:Picnic læ-skure Skjoldhøjkilen.jpg, The area is used by a large array of institutions, organizations and citizens. File:Skjoldhøjkilen (graphical tag).JPG, Graphical tags in the area are used for educational purposes. File:A forest ride.jpg, Mountain biking routes File:Primeval swamps.jpg, The alder swamp. One of the primeval forest types of Denmark. File:Into the woodlands....jpg, Although Skjoldhøjkilen is not a park in the usual sense, workers are constantly trimming and maintaining the area. File:Skjoldhøjkilen shelter and fireplace.jpg, Shelters and a few fireplaces are here to facilitate camping. File:Meadow and woods.jpg, The nature and landscape is highly diverse.

References

Sources

Hasle Bakker
homepage for the organization
Skjoldhøjkilen - a recreational area
Aarhus Municipality
Hasle Hills - Learning in nature
ULF i Aarhus, Aarhus Municipality

External links

Hasle Interactive
Alexandra Institute {{DEFAULTSORT:Skjoldhojkilen Geography of Aarhus