Saltholm
| Saltholm | ||
|---|---|---|
 In the background the Oresund Bridge |
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| Waters | Oresund , Baltic Sea | |
| Geographical location | 55 ° 38 '28 " N , 12 ° 45' 35" E | |
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| length | 7 km | |
| width | 3 km | |
| surface | 15.99 km² | |
| Highest elevation | unnamed 5 m |
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| Residents | 2 (January 1, 2020) <1 inh / km² |
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| main place | Holmegård | |
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Saltholm ("little salt island") is an approximately 16 km² large, barely inhabited Danish island in the Öresund , which is east of the island of Amager and southeast of Copenhagen .
The name Saltholm ("little salt island") probably indicates the lack of fresh water on the island.
administration
Saltholm is a bird sanctuary and belongs to the parish of Kastrup ( Kastrup Sogn ) in Harde Sokkelund Herred ( Københavns Amt ), since 1970 to the municipality of Tårnby Kommune , which remained untouched by the municipal reform on January 1, 2007 and is now part of the Hovedstaden region.
geography
Saltholm is located opposite Copenhagen-Kastrup Airport on the island of Amager and is separated from Amager by the 3.3 km wide Drogden .
The island has 2 residents (January 1, 2019) in the homestead Holmegård in the north-west of the island. It is very flat with a maximum height of five meters. As a result, large parts of the island can be flooded with high tides , especially in the winter months .
The island can only be reached with your own boat or with the bådtaxa ("boat taxi ").
South of Saltholm, less than 900 meters away, is the artificial neighboring island of Peberholm ("Pepper Island"), which is part of the Öresund connection .
Flora and fauna
The grazing of cows, horses, sheep and geese in summer, which has been practiced for centuries, has shaped the landscape of the island with its open meadows. Besides Amager, Saltholm is the only place in Denmark where bastard irises bloom in the wild.
Saltholm is not only a resting place for geese, swans, ducks, peregrine falcons and sea eagles , but also has the largest population of eider ducks in Europe with up to 7000 breeding birds . Around 12,000 gray geese , teals and wigeons were sighted in one spring . During the breeding season of the birds, between April 1st and July 15th, you can only stay in the northern part of the island.
Snails, mussels, worms, crustaceans and other animal species are found in large quantities around the island along with fish and fry. In addition, sea grasses can be found underwater .
There is a seal colony in the south .
history
Saltholm was formed about 4,000 years ago by the post-glacial uplift . This process is continuously changing the landscape, especially in the southern part of the island.
Saltholm was first mentioned in 1230 in the Waldemar book of records, where the king gave the island to the Roskilder bishop Niels Stigsen.
The Amager farmers used the island for grazing and dairy farming in summer. Traces of primitive peat-walled huts can be found in many places on the east side of the island. These so-called mælkehytter (“milk huts”) were used by “milking girls” (malkepiger) and shepherd boys.
During the plague epidemic of 1709 Saltholm served as a quarantine station for foreigners who wanted to enter the Danish capital.
From the 18th century, lime was repeatedly mined, which shaped the landscape of the area. The dismantling process created large, open fractures which, when filled with water, are mainly used as a home for geese birds . The hard limestone was hewn and used as solid building material or burned for further use as mortar. Limestone mining ended in 1935.
The Saltholm Ejerlaug ("Saltholm Landowners Association") has existed since 1873 . When the association bought the island from the Danish state, it was decided that only Amager property owners could become members. The association now has around 200 members who regulate grazing rights and manage the few remaining buildings (two courtyards and 12 houses), only two of which are permanent homes.
Theodor Philipsen painted many of his works on the island at the end of the 19th century .
As part of the Copenhagen defenses , the island was used for military purposes from the early 20th century. During the First World War , cannons were set up and soldiers were sent to Saltholm. To connect the cannon positions with the harbor, a track for freight wagons was built in 1915 .
From 1919 to 1936 the island had a school building.
Driven by a lawsuit by the Danish nature conservation association Danmarks Naturfredningsforening , the island was placed under nature protection in 1983. While the location close to the city of Copenhagen and the Øresund connection is not a major problem for the island's nature, the proximity to Kastrup Airport means a threat to the reproduction of the various species of gulls. The nature conservation association is skeptical about the fight against seagulls, which are seen as a nuisance for air traffic. The eggs in the seagulls' nests were smeared with oil to prevent them from hatching.
literature
- Niels Houkjær: Saltholm in De danske øer - En lystrejse til Danmarks småøer , p. 151 ff., (Danish), Nordisk Forlag A / S, Copenhagen 2006, ISBN 87-02-04176-6
Web links
- Saltholm - Naturø kun 12 km from Rådhuspladsen The Danish Ministry of the Environment on the nature island (Danish)
- Saltholms Ejerlauget Saltholmer Real Estate Association (Danish)
- Saltholm in Den Store Danske Encyklopædi
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b statistics banks -> Befolkning og valg -> BEF4: Folketal pr. January 1st demands på øer (Danish)
- ↑ Danmarks Statistics : Statistical Yearbook 2009 - Geography and climate, Table 3 Area and population. Regions and inhabited islands (English; PDF; 39 kB)
- ↑ a b c Saltholm Ejerlaug: History ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed on August 7, 2010 (Danish)
- ↑ a b Naturstyrelsen of the Danish Ministry of the Environment : Saltholm ( Memento of the original from June 3, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed December 6, 2011 (Danish)
