Animals
Mammals
Fox
The foxes in Jægersborg Hegn are not as shy as the badgers and are often active during the day. They spread the excavated soil in a fan-shaped pile in front of the fox’s den which, as you know, has several ways out. In the tunnels, several families of foxes can live side by side. They have 4-8 cubs in late March. The fox marks its territory using the fragrance of excrement which is, therefore, often placed on a tree trunk or a tuft of grass to allow the scent to spread properly.
Badger
There are many badgers in Jægersborg Hegn, and most of their burrows are found on the slopes leading down to Mølleåen. Here, more families often live together in a so-called badger complexes and may usually be distinguished from fox’s dens by the fact that there is a furrow in the ground in front of the entrance. They have2-4 cubs in March. Badgers are nocturnal and very shy and the chances of seeing them are slim. On the other hand, you can sometimes hear them grunt and snuffle. That they will bite into the leg of people until they hear the bones crush and that, in the old days, this made forest workers walk around with coke in their boots is an old wives’ tale.
Roe deer
The deer in Jægersborg Hegn are not as visible as the deer of Dyrehaven (“the Deer Park”) but you can see traces of them on young trees where the bucks rub their antlers as they change each year. When the new antlers grow they are protected by extra skin, the so-called velvet, which it rubs off by rubbing it against the branches. The mating season is July-August and the roe usually has two spotted lambs in May-June.
Read more on mammals in the encyclopaedia of species (in Danish)
Birds
Goshawk
There are breeding goshawks in Jægersborg Hegn. The goshawk is the largest hawk of our latitude. The female is the size of a common buzzard, that is, about 55 cm long and with a wing span of 113-128 cm. The male is slightly smaller. It travels through the air by a series of slow and deep wing strokes interrupted by gliding.
Raven
The rare and shy ravens reside in the southern part of Jægersborg Hegn at Mølleåen. It is a type of crow that is 65-70 cm long and has a wing span of 120-150 cm. Its feathers are jet-black with a blue-green tinge and its beak and feet are black. There are between 500 and 700 ravens in Denmark and the birds are unconditionally preserved in Denmark. According to Nordic mythology, Odin kept two ravens Hugin and Munin who sat on his shoulders every evening and told him what had happened in the world during the day.
Dipper
At Mølleåen, you may be lucky to see the rare dipper dive in its hunt for small animals on the bottom of the creek. The dipper is an 18-centimetres-long black or slate-grey passerine with a white throat and chest. It usually sits on a rock in the middle of the creek or on the shore and from there it dives for food. Its plumage is dense and water-repellent and a membrane in its nostrils means that they can be closed off to keep the water out.
Other more common birds in Jægersborg Hegn are the common buzzard, the woodpecker and the owl.
Read more on birds in the encyclopaedia of species (in Danish)
If you are interested in birds, you can go to dofbasen.dk (in Danish) and see what observations have been made at different locations in the country. You can also enter your own observations and see statistics on all observations of the different bird species.
Plants
European larch
Jægersborg Hegn is known by professional silviculturists throughout Europe for Rundforbilærkene, a collection of around fifty, approximately-130-year-old, 35-metres-tall, slim trees which have been designated seed trees and which are the ancestors of millions of trees throughout Europe. They were planted to secure timber for ship masts and vanes of mills.
The forest
Many of the trees in Jægersborg Hegn were sown or planted immediately after the separation from Jægersborg Dyrehave in 1832 or during the period 1870-79 and no new trees were planted again on a grand scale not until 1960. In other words, the trees characterising Jægersborg Hegn are either very old trees, so-called high forest, or relatively young growth.
The forest is now cared for according to the so-called natural principles which means, amongst others, that the trees self-sow eliminating the need for planting trees.
Read more on natural forestry in the state forests
Jægersborg Hegn is a deciduous forest with many beech trees and some oak trees. But there are also conifers and Jægersborg Hegn is famous for its collection of around fifty European larches.
At Bøllemosen there is a stand of self-sown birch trees, predominantly white birch.
Jægersborg Hegn a very dense forest. This is primarily due to the fact that there are not many roe deer in Jægersborg Hegn and that there are not sufficient deer to keep the undergrowth at bay and bite off the bottom branches of the trees. In the neighbouring forest, Dyrehaven, 2,000 red deer, fallow deer, roe deer and sika deer keep the forest more open.
Heathers
Mosebølle is a dwarf bush of the heather family, which has given name to the large Bøllemosen in the northern part of Jægersborg Hegn. The pulp of its blue berries is white, unlike that of the blueberry. Mosebølle is also called the poor man’s blueberry. In ancient times, it was considered toxic and partly euphoriant and, if you eat too many of them, you may develop a headache and become dizzy.
Another Bøllemosen plant is the cranberry, which is also of the heather family. The berries have a very high vitamin C content and the juice can be used to prevent bladder infections and urinary tract infections. Cranberries are rare in Denmark.
Sundew
Common sundew is a carnivorous plant, which is rare in Denmark outside Northern and Western Jutland. However, it is found in Bøllemosen where it blossoms in July and August. It is recognisable on its rosette of leaves with heavily glandular hairs that secrete the slimy droplets that attract insects. When an insect lands on the leaf, the leaf rolls around the prey and dissolves it by the secretion of special liquids.
Hare's tail grass
Hare’s tail grass is one of the characteristic plants of Bøllemosen. The flowers have neither petals nor sepals but are surrounded by fine wool-like hairs, cotton grass, which was once used as stuffing in bedding. You cannot use cotton grass for yarn.
Read more on plants in the encyclopaedia of species (in Danish)
Fungi
In Jægersborg Hegn there are several different types of edible mushrooms. In the autumn, you may be lucky to find horns of plenty, two-toned wood-tufts, oyster mushrooms, beefsteak fungus and chanterelles.
Read more on fungi in the encyclopaedia of species (in Danish)