It has been months and months of overcast, grey drizzle. At least, it has felt that way. When the sky cleared, it was usually while I was at work. This weekend, things finally fell in place. The forecast promised sun and spring warmth, and I didn't have to work.
I loaded up the car, and set off half past five in the morning, which is inhumanely early for a nightowl such as myself, but I wanted to catch the sunrise and I had a ways to go before reaching the Seven Year Lakes in Frederikshåb Plantage.

The Seven-Year Lakes got their name because they are not always there. The lakes appear and disappear with the height of the groundwater. The groundwater table has its own "hills and valleys", and therefore the Seven-Year Lakes are quite unpredictable.

Frederiks Hopeless Plantation was the name of the forest by the locals for many decades, because it took almost 100 years to turn a small piece of Randbøl Hede into a forest. The idea was to stop the sand drift. In the 1600s most of the forests in Denmark had been felled and the agricultural land was overused. Frederikshåb Plantation is an example of the fight against sand drift. Work started in 1804, when Scots pine and birch were sown. Dikes were built, which created a bit of shelter for the plants. Growing conditions were harsh with sand drift, frost, drought and pests. Today it's a beautiful and varied forest with a relatively rich wildlife.

#Birding #Birds #Birdwatching #Ornithology #Forest #WildlifePhotography #iNaturalist #Wildlife #Nature #Lakes