An ice age landscape of tunnel valleys, heath lakes, raised bogs and oak scrub in central Jutland, Denmark.
Natura 2000 Area No. 41 Hjelm Hede, Flyndersø and Stubbergård Sø
Natura 2000 Area No. 41 is a Danish protected nature site located in central Jutland, spanning parts of Skive and Holstebro municipalities within the Central Denmark Region. The site combines three geographically linked landscapes: the heathland of Hjelm Hede, the elongated Flyndersø lake, and the tunnel valley lake Stubbergård Sø, together covering roughly 2,170 hectares.
The area is widely regarded as one of the best places in Denmark to observe glacial landscape features formed near the main ice stand-line of the last ice age. A tunnel valley filled with dead ice and an overlying outwash plain give the area a layered geological character, with dead-ice lakes, raised bogs, heath plains, and deciduous woodlands all present within a relatively compact territory.
Ecologically, the site is significant for its diverse Natura 2000 habitats, including wet and dry heaths, raised bogs, spring mires, lobelia lakes, and rare oak communities. It also functions as an important bird area, hosting breeding and migratory species such as bittern, osprey, kingfisher, great crested grebe, and goosander, and it is therefore designated both as a Habitats Directive site and as a Bird Protection Area.
