The Marshes and the Wadden Sea
The wildest place in Denmark The Danish Wadden Sea begins in the North at the river valley, Varde Ådal, and ends in the South at the border. It covers an area of roughly 100 km2. Twice in the course of a day and a night, every 12½ hours, we have high tide, and the tide is lowest roughly 6 hours later. One thousand million cubic metres of water pass through the deep channel between the Wadden Sea islands, Fanø, Mandø and Rømø, and spread out over the tidal flats between the islands and the main land. The water is always on its way, either inward or outward bound. The tides shape the landscape, shift large quantities of sand and clay, and create islands, shallows and fairways in the universe of the Wadden Sea.  The marshes begin where the tidal waters end. The marshes are grassland, a wonderful place for the cattle and sheep to graze during the long, light summer – and these grazing livestock give tasty meat.
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If you go out into the marshes on a spring day the sound of the birds fills the air. The oyster catcher with its black and white plumage, and carrot coloured beak and legs, scolds sharply and persistently. The redshank flies about and cries “thief”: “tyv, tyv, tyv”. The plover is much more quiet, as it creeps stealthily along and hides its young ever so well. Many thousands of geese and swans graze in the marshes, long before they fly further North, to the artic regions, to breed in mid April.  For them the marshes provide the chance to replenish their fat deposits, so they can survive in the cold artic tundra. In the autumn, they are back again in the marshes. Spring time brings out a wonderful fragrance in the white flowers of the scurvy grass, falling softly like snowflakes. The plant is also known as the scurvy herb. Its leaves are rich in vitamin c, and since old times it has been brought along by sea farers on their long voyages, so they could avoid scurvy. The marshes provide many different plants, which have adjusted to life in the marginal zone between sea and land, where only the toughest species can survive. The plants need to tolerate flooding sea water, rain, droughts and wind filled with salt and sand. There’s no room for the delicate plants. Sea plantain with its triangular leaves is one of the survivors. In the entire area by the Wadden Sea, the plant is known as “sorr”, and tastes delicious either raw or boiled. In July, the sandwort spurrey unfolds its mauve floral blanket over the marshes, and then follows the sea starwort with its superb fragrance.
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When the tide is on its way out, you can take off your shoes and walk out to the tidal flat. Your feet will sense how the sea floor changes, from the silky softness of the silt deposits to the firm sand, where your foot prints are hardly visible. On the tidal flat you will often be accompanied by the migrating wading birds. In the spring time they fly north from West Africa, stop by at the Wadden Sea to gorge themselves, and then continue to Siberia or Greenland to breed. In the autumn, they return to forage in the Wadden Sea, before continuing to Africa, where they spend the winter.  Millions of migrating birds, among them the sandpiper, the knot and the greater yellow legs can be seen every year in the Wadden Sea. They follow the flow of the tide, wade along the water’s edge, in and out of the water, seeking fodder. The food store of the Wadden Sea can offer: worms, mussels, crayfish, snails, crabs, common mussels, oysters and fish. Humans have lived off the generosity of the marshes and the Wadden Sea for thousands of years.  This is a beautiful wilderness. There is a multitude of living creatures. The horizon is ever so far away, the skies are ever so high, and your senses are tickled to the utmost by the light, the sounds, the colours and the stillness. It is unique, the Wadden Sea. It’s the wildest of the wild in Denmark.
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