Wildlife to see in Denmark in July
4 spectacles at their peak in Denmark in July, and 4 more still going on. Wild animals only: no zoos, no wildlife parks, no hunting. Open Denmark in July in the interactive calendar for listening times on the day you pick.
At their peak in July
Nightjars and woodlarks in the dune plantationsNightjar churring from clear-fell edges, wing-claps and 'coo-ick' flight calls, woodlark's cascading song at dusk, long-eared owl chicks squeaking, roe deer barking; the North Sea surf behind the Thy dunes.
Harbour porpoises in the Little BeltPorpoises are silent to the ear (their clicks are at 130 kHz) — a hydrophone with a wideband recorder gets the click trains; audibly, the sharp puff of a surfacing blow a few metres off the rocks at Røjle Klint, and the Old Little Belt Bridge traffic.
Tipperne: wader passage on Ringkøbing FjordWader flocks calling over the wet meadows, godwit and lapwing display in spring, avocets, geese lifting in autumn, the fjord's chop on the western dyke; almost no traffic.
Seals at Hvide Sande and on the Wadden Sea sandbanksHarbour seals are quiet — snorts, splashes, pups bleating on a haul-out; grey seal bulls moaning and roaring in winter; with a hydrophone, seal vocalisations and the tide; oystercatchers and the surf.
Also going on in July
Vejlerne: bitterns, cranes and Northern Europe's largest reedbedsBittern booming from several directions at once, spotted crake whiplashes, water rail squeals, cranes trumpeting at dawn, bearded reedlings pinging, greylag families, black terns over the lagoons; wind in 8 km of reed.
'Sort sol' — starling murmurations over the Wadden Sea marshesThe rush of a million wings folding in a single turn, the crackle of the flock settling into the reed, then a vast chattering roost; a raptor strike sends a rippling roar through the whole mass; morning departures leave in waves.
Ertholmene: Denmark's only guillemot and razorbill colonyGuillemots' growling and razorbills' rattle from Græsholm's rocks 100 m across the sound, eider crooning, gull colonies, the Baltic; at night on Christiansø, migrants and the fortress silence.
Fire-bellied toads and green toads on the islandsFire-bellied toads' soft, bell-like 'oop... oop' in chorus from cattle ponds — from a distance like distant church bells; green toads' long trills; natterjacks ratcheting on the beach meadows; tree frog volleys on Lolland.