Mygfjed Forest - Walk with me 3

MYGFJED FOREST

AND SURROUNDINGS

Generalstabens historical map of Mygfjed 1889

1 Dragsminde outlet dividing the coast i two parts

2 Big and small trees grow among eachother. You can see the dike in the horizon

3 The forest seen from a small birdwatching tower

MYGFJED FOREST

WALK WITH ME 3

In between Bredfjed village and Lalandia water park the forest of Mygfjed emerges. Mygfjed was one of the barrier islands at the south of Rødby Fjord, along with Hummingen, Tjørnebjerg, Bredfjed, and Sylthom. These islands created a natural barrier between the sea and the inner coastal zones of Rødby Fjord. Laying opposite of Mygfjed at the tip of the mainland was Bindernæs just 200-400 meters apart. In 1644 two defence stations, Nordre Skanse and Søndre Skanse, were built at Bindernæs to overlook the Fehmarn Belt waters during The Thirty Years’ War (HistoriskAtlas. dk, Skanserne i Rødbyfjord). The remains of the northern defence station, an elevated piece of land, lays on the ground of a recreational green space connected to Lalandia water park.

Mygfjed Forest appear on the inside of the dike. The outline of the forest is remarkably similar to the shape of the former island. In the historical mappings of Mygfjed from 1889 the Lidsø-Bindernæs reclamation has already created connection between the Lidsø island, Mydfjed island and the Bindernæs on the mainland. But the idea of the former islands still appear from the map. The second outlet of Rødby Fjord reclamation, Dragsminde outlet, is found west of Mygfjed, drawing a line in the landscape both in the present and the historical from 1889. The water from Dragsminde canal lock divides the beach in to two pieces. I approach Mygfjed Forest from the south east drawn by the luring sounds of the forest. The forest is framed by the dike in the south and a canal along the northside. The water of the canal is green of algae, and I film the intense activity of organisms in the water. The pine and spruce forest is planted in a strict pattern of squares, with clearings facing outwards. In the clearings young spruce trees emerge among old ones and the contrast between the pale grassland and the dark conifers make a remarkable sight. I recall pictures from the dusty information boards in the memorial park describing how the forest started emerging from the reclaimed seabed of Rødby Fjord. As the forest densifies I hear how the pines are squeaking when pulled back and forth by the wind. From a wobbly wooden tower, I sink into the mystery of the forest and its sounds. Everything dissolves around me.

I am filming from the passenger seat on my way back home; windmills, straight roads, canals and naked black agricultural soils. My fingers are cold and numb.