Diary of a visit to Denmark – 3-12 August 2004

Jaegersborg Dyrehaven is a remarkable park in the suburbs of Copenhagen (picture above). It not only has very good numbers of ancient oaks and beech, it is also very large and is exceptionally important for public recreation. It is a SAC for its grassland but is also the top old growth beech indicator fungi site in Denmark with species richness very close to the mountainous virgin beech forests of Slovinia.


Sundby Storskov by comparison is relatively small and the interest is in a narrow strip of ancient wood pasture between a phragmites reed bed and mainstream high forest. Even so it contains a large number of very large diameter oaks and is the top site in Denmark for the oak polypore, Pipotoporus quercinus.

The Ancient Tree Forum hopes that it will be possible with the help of the Danes we met to arrange an event in Denmark in the future to help raise the profile of these and other sites and their rich heritage of ancient trees.


Day one

Bolderslev Slov, South Jutland
Although it is not an ancient tree site, it was recommended that we visit this 156 ha mainly semi natural woodland that has recently been bought by the State Forestry Service.

Within this wood two species of tree have been found that were not thought previously as native trees. The forest is a mix of young mature beech, oak, lime and a few hornbeam. There are some areas of windblown conifer and evidence of cutting non native conifer and leaving in situ ie PAWS restoration. In the middle of the wood are some open meadows. There is a small area of parking and waymarked paths through the wood (see map).

Draved Slov, South Jutland
A state owned semi-natural woodland which is next to a similar sized mire. We were recommended to visit this wood because of its important lichen flora. It is also an important site for beech fungal indicator species (those assumed to be usable to help set conservation priorities in European beech forests). Draved Forest Reserve is 250 ha and has been partly managed until recently. Today, all parts of the forest are designated as unmanaged forest. Some small parts of the forest have been unmanaged since 1948 and these areas are dominated by a mixed deciduous forest with lime (Tilia cordata), birch (Betula spp.), alder (Alnus glutinosa), oak (Quercus robur), beech (Fagus sylvatica) and aspen (Populus tremula).

There are some older stands of trees and occasional large open grown oak trees. There are clearly way marked paths around the woodland and a hide overlooking the mire but we arrived just after a shower and the mosquito and horse fly populations were so trying that we probably didn’t do the site justice!

Day two

Ravnholt Dyrehave, Fyn
This is a large private estate. We found this estate by chance as it was marked on the road map as a ‘dyrehave’ and we decided this sounded interesting to find out if any ancient trees were present. We found signs up welcoming us to walk in the area. Soon after we started exploring we saw one large oak approx 150 dbh and then more open grown oaks in fields.

We also found one enormous pollard crab apple (left) with a diameter of 127 cms – we believe that this maybe the largest recorded in Europe! And nearby a large pollard ash measured at 97 cms diameter.

We were taken by gamekeepers who we met by chance, to the largest oak on the estate. It has a name which means ‘the Lord of the Manor’s oak’ and has a trunk diameter is 2.3m. There has been a fire inside its hollow trunk and the surrounding younger beech is affecting its canopy. The estate (and we found out later many such estates) are characterised by avenues of roadside trees along estate roads. In this case the roads had been planted with horse chestnuts. We drove around the outskirts of the estate and found a number of large oaks in hedgerows, along wood boundaries and along roadsides including one massive oak pollard at 214 cms diameter.

Jaegerspris, Zealand
Although we didn’t get to see them, some of the largest oaks in Denmark can be found in a coniferised area to the north of the castle, separated from the castle grounds by military areas. There are at least three named trees in this area. Around the castle and in the town street you can however find very large old oak trees and we spotted a very interesting beech bundle/coppice.



Day Three

Jaegersborg Dyrehavn, Copenhagen
Helen Read (Corporation of London, Burnham Beeches) met us and took us to see this fantastic area of about 10 sq km of deer park with red and fallow deer, within the suburbs of Denmark’s capital city. The area is under the management of the Danish National Forest and Nature Agency.


The area was once a Royal Hunting forest. Main ancient trees seen were beech, oak, field maple, alder and ash.

This is the top site in Denmark for specialist beech fungi and also good for oak specialists such as Piptoporus quercinus, the oak polypore. Some very large oaks present, about 10 are named trees and mapped on the tourist map including the Ulvedolseg (Ulvedols Oak) which we measured at 342 cm diameter at 0.25m. There were many dead, dying and fallen large diameter beech trees especially in the southern end near one of the main entrances next to Klampenburg town. Also there are ancient alders, field maples and patches of hawthorn scrub. We estimated there to be over 1000 overmature or ancient trees making it to be one of the top sites in Northern Europe.

The site is designated a Natura 2000 site due to the grassland interest as this is one of the top natural grasslands remaining in Denmark. The long grass gives the park a very natural feel. There are reported to be 300 red deer, 1700 Fallow,100 Sika deer and although they create a very clear high browse line under the trees, the grass is still quite long and lush at this time of the year. (This may vary as this year July was exceptionally wet with 150ml of rain instead of the usual 60 ml) There was very little sign of poaching around the base of trees except in areas of younger woodland where we saw the herds congregating.


We walked first of all in the area near to the amusement park – at 400 years old reputed to be the oldest in Europe, and then northwards into the heart of the park and circled back to the main entrance. This area is well treed and although they are open canopy trees they are quite close together so that in many cases their canopies are nearly touching. We found a number of bundle planted beech trees so it appears this was a regular practice in Denmark at one time. We noticed that one half of the bundle could be dead or dying and the presence of Fomes fomentarious brackets but the other half is still thriving. We also found trees with Ganoderma pfeifferi – an indicator of old growth beech forest ie areas of old beech with a continuity of beech into the past. On fallen, sun dried beech there was often Coryolus hirsutus and Schizophyllum commune species which are known to like warm climatic conditions.

We then drove to the Ermitage and walked around this much more open area. There are fewer beech trees but probably the same density of ancient oaks but easier to see in this area as they stand in more open conditions.

This remarkable site is also the most visited place in the whole of Denmark with many millions of visitors per year. It inspired us to find so many old trees and so much fallen decaying wood so obviously enjoyed by so many people.

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