Vejlerne

In the 1860s a company set out to drain the shallow bays at the western end of the Limfjord and turn them into farmland, built dykes and pumps, and largely failed: the ground was too saline and too wet, and the project was abandoned. What was left is around six thousand hectares of reed bed, shallow lake, wet meadow and salt marsh behind the old dykes, and it became one of the most important bird areas in northern Europe. Cranes, bitterns, marsh harriers, avocets, black terns and very large numbers of geese and ducks use it, along with breeding populations of species scarce elsewhere in Denmark. Access is deliberately limited to protect it: a set of hides and towers along the road, with the interior closed to the public.

What's there

• Reed beds and shallow lakes - the failed reclamation left as wetland.
• Roadside hides and towers - the only access into the reserve.
• Breeding cranes and bitterns - species scarce elsewhere in Denmark.
• Geese and ducks in autumn - large numbers on passage and wintering.

When to go

April to June for breeding birds and song, September to November for passage and geese. A day working along the hides. Dawn is the hour. Winter brings raptors and wildfowl but fewer species.

Before you go

The interior is closed and you see the reserve from fixed hides, which limits what you get without a telescope and patience. There is no visitor centre worth the name. It is exposed and cold in wind. Casual visitors often see very little.

Nearby

Bulbjerg is north on the coast; Thy National Park lies west.

Key facts