Land of Dunes
Have you ever struggled with wind and sand? The people of Nordjylland [Vendsyssel-Thy] did, for hundreds of years. Massive sand movements created shifting Dunes, slowly slipping across the land, make landscapes, houses and even whole settlements disappear and release them, dead and abandoned after some years.
Rubjerg Knude ~ a shifting Dune between Lønstrup and Løkken. The Lighthouse became famous in 2018, when it was moved 100m on rails away from the cliffside to prevent it from falling into the sea. This Dune, one of two in the area, is constantly “eating” the land (up to 1m/year), what becomes clear by the size: 1900m length, 400m width and 70m in height. No wonder, the peoples effort to manage the sand movement is strong.
Due to this long experience with wind and sand, there is a big knowledgebase about how to protect the land. Nevertheless it is not an easy task to do so.
Walking Rubjerg Knude and Råbjerg Mile gives you a glimpse how challenging it is to stop sand from moving on. In fact, it is not possible in total.
It ain´t easy…that is the true story. As the Dune reaches 50 Meter, the Lighthouse wasn´t visible to ships any longer. So it was shut down on 1st August 1968. Pine branches were used to prevent the sand from rising higher and moving. Sadly, the opposite was the case. This action had accelerated the speed of growth. That illustrates, why sand movement is a science. Because on the other Hand, cultivating vegetation on Dunes is a Key for stopping the movement. You exactly have to know what to do! As Denmark has over 5000 km Coastline, there arises special Jobs to care about this issue. One of the main activies is, to implant beach grass to the Dunes. From there, coastal protection should have top priority, also facing the fact, that erosion break off several meters of coast every year. But those, who want to put protection first, getting in trouble with the jet-set people of Denmark and also municipal authorities. Especially regarding Højen in the “Gamel Skagen” district. But that is a different story…
Good looking Dunescape
…is the target. Well overgrown, the coastline is ready to withstand the strong winds, blowing here…
A more diverse Flora
…even though beach grass ist foundation, there were more efforts done to preserve the coastline from sand movement.
~ sea buckthorn, fir, spruce and pine was planted. But you also can see oaks, beech and alder. The first so called “klitplantagen” was planted in 1726. Nowadays they cover an area of 30.000 ha.
On the move
On windy days the Dune ist moving away from the coast…dramatic but also beautyful…
…the most breathtaking Paintings for free…every
day…
Most Pictures in this article were made with a “foveon x3” sensor ~ it´s almost like working with film (Heavy Winds, Tripod and long exposure times - 1/20 to 1/60 / ASA 50 or 100)
A selection of further pictures…
