The Quill / The Goose Pen

The number of geese in Denmark was in 1800 estimated to ab. 123.00, but in the first livestock-counting in 1888 was registered 213.530 geese. The largest part of geese was driven down through the Jutland peninsula for sale in Sønderjylland and at Funen. The slowly walking geese could at most walk ab. 14-15 km a day and if a geese became too tired, it had to be carried!

The geese were kept for delivering food for the table, but also in order to provide feather and down for pillows and duvets. 200 geese were necessary to deliver feathers and downs for a one bed-clothes. But the feathers were used for other things too, as toothpicks, pipe cleaners and as a paint brush for oil-brushing the breads before baking. The long stiff flight feathers were fine in a duster, and the ribbed feathers could be tied in bundles as scrubbing brush for pots and pans.

The Quill

The large flight feathers were through many centuries used as writing materials. With a special pen-knife the end of the feather was cut off slantwise. The tip was not slit; if the line had to be thicker, then this did not happen by pressing harder, but by giving the feather a turn, so the ink could float out broader.

In several districts the farmers had a duty to deliver suitable goose feathers for the parish school. The school pens were cut by the teacher - but the tip soon lost its elasticity and had to be cut again. The pen feathers were an export article.

The quill was an excellent writing tool. The old documents with their tortuous initials with elegant sweeps show this clearly. The history of the goose-pen can be traced back to the 400s, where they replaced the thin metal-pens in copper or bronze, which were known by the Romans. From the Mediterranean the quill spread across Europe and arrived in the North together with the Latin script and the parchment.

The steel-pen with a slit was invented in the late 1700s, but not mass-produced until ab. 1830. This happened in Birminghan and developed into a good business for the enterprising manufacturer. The feather pen was during a few decades almost out-competed, and in 1880 the production had grown to 15 million steel-pens a week.

In linguistic history we still write with the goose-pen, since the word pen origins from Latin, "penna" meaning feather.

Source: Skalk, archaeological magazine, nr. 5, 1989, V.J.Brøndegaard.


photo: grethe bachmann

Blackberry/Brombær

Rubus



Blackberry grows wild in the forest, in a hedgerow or the edge of a wood. In September and October the berries ripen, and they are delicious both raw or as marmelade, jam and stewed fruit. They are also fine in sorbet, pies and as served to a venison-dinner. Wine, snaps and liqueur are made from blackberries, which are also used in cosmetics like in a French Eau de Toilette from Yves Rocher.

It is not advisable to use or eat blackberry growing close to busy roads.

The evergreen leaves are important food for deer. In ancient times the leaves were used as a medicament against infections of the mouth , diarrhoea and abscesses. Superstition holds that blackberry should not be picked after 15th September as the Devil has claimed them, having left a mark on the leaves . After this date wett and cool weather often allows the fruit to become infected by moulds - so there is some value to the legend.

The blackberry was consumed by humans for thousand of years. A forensic evidence from an Iron Age find, the Haraldskaer Woman in Jutland, shows that blackberry was consumed 2.500 years ago.

Haraldskær Woman.

photo: grethe bachmann

A Cloudy Day in August at the Island Mors

Nykøbing Mors, town square

The only market town at the island Mors is Nykøbing Mors with about 10.000 inhabitants. It was burnt down several times and rebuilt - therefore the town seems new. Nykøbing Mors got its municipal rights in 1299. About 1370 was Dueholm kloster established, which brought wealth to the town. In spite of the competition from the town Thisted in Thy the town flourished in the Middle Ages, caused by good farm land, shipping and rich fishing in Limfjorden.

A famous citizen in Nykøbing Mors is the author Axel Sandemose, who was born here. He felt badly treated in the town and moved to Norway to become a Norwegian like his mother was. It was he, who wrote the famous "Jantelov"in one of his novels. (Jante Law)


Nykøbing Mors, the Fole on twon square


Gammellund, castle bank, where the knight Johan Skarpenberg, Niels Bugge's son-in-law, had a castle in the 1300s.


Tissinghuse, fishing village and fisherman's cottage


Agerø, horses on a landtongue and old milk cans

There is a dam from Mors to the island Agerø which is a paradise for bird-watchers. Stone cliffs west of Agerø are protected and make together with the beach meadow reserve to the north an important resting place for migrating birds.


Agerø,wading birds.


Agerø, a heron


Agerø, cattle and wading birds


Common buzzard


Karby church, old granite blocks and relief.
The church has a fine interior from the 1700s


Arbjerg Torn, view from the cliff to beach meadows with Herefords


Arbjerg Torn, Peacock and White Cabbage butterfly (almost yellow)


Arbjerg Torn, blackberry and elderberry


Arbjerg Torn, Andes geese and Hereford cattle


Tæbring church and starlings


Tæbring, view from Tæbring church which lies close to the cliff at Dragstrup Vig.


Tæbring church, Small Tortoiseshell butterflies on Sct. Hans Urt. (Sedum)


Tæbring, old church dike


Tæbring church, the nervous white horse


Tæbring church, swallows


Rovvig, one of the coasts at Mors on a cloudy day.


Rovvig, common mussel


Torup, red cattle



Arbjerg Torn, Swans and their young ones


Agerø, black-white cattle on a land tongue.

MORS – the Island behind the Sea.
Mors is with its 367 km2 the largest island in Limfjorden. This collage above from Mors is only a small part. There is i.e.Scandinavia's largest flower park, "Jesperhus" with about 1/2 million plants, a fresh-water aquaria with tropical fish, a bird-zoo and terrarium - and a special attraction is a hall where over 1000 butterflies fly among tropical plants. At the park is a holiday center and a tropical indoor water complex. There are various museums, medieval churches and manors , like Højris Slot where they arrange "Murder Mysteries". The nature is magnificent along the coast, and a special place is Hanklit and Feggeklit, which I told you about in my previous post.


photo Mors August 2007: grethe bachmann

Hanklit and Feggeklit, Mors in Limfjorden

Hanklit: stig bachmann nielsen, Naturplan Foto


Hanklit, 55 million years old.

I often get mails from Danish-Americans or Americans with Danish roots, mostly via my other blogs. I got a mail from a helpful American with a Danish name. One of his family lines came from the island Mors near Hanklit. I have found some old photos from Hanklit and Feggeklit.

The protected cliff Hanklit is Denmark's largest moler cliff. It is placed on the northwestern coast of the island Mors in Limfjorden. It rises to a height of ab. 60 m from the beach. From the top is a fantastic view. The contents of Hanklit is a mix of volcanic ash and moler, and the layers are visible as dark volcanic ash stripes, alternating with moler stripes. In the moler layers are fossils of fish, snails, insects and plants.



My son photographing the view to Limfjorden by the big red stone on the beach.


Two boys looking for interesting stones on the beach.

An old legend from Mors says that when God was about to create Jutland, he first made a small test-model. It was so beautiful that he couldn't bear to throw it away, so he made the waters of Limfjorden a little broader to the west and placed the model here. The model was later named Mors!


In a field close to the Hanklit-parking place a goose seemingly was watching the cattle on the hill. When we approached the fence to take some photos, the goose became absolutely heated and was hissing until it lost its breath!


Feggeklit


Cattle an swans with young ones at Feggesund (the sound)

Feggeklit is another protected moler cliff at the northern tip of Mors. It is about 24 m high, ab. 1 km long and 300 m broad. It was an island in Stone Age. From the narrow beach can be noticed geological layers from the childhood of Earth. The layers are alternating like at Hanklit. The dark stripes are in numbers 146, which corresponds to the number of volcanic eruptions. Like at Hanklit are here many fossils.

Southwest of Feggeklit are pretty beach meadows with a rich bird life, i.e. avocet, big plover, lapwing, common snipe and a few yellow wagtails. Upon Feggeklit itself and the beach meadows are rare plants like Vår-potentil (Potentilla tabernaemontani) and Liden Snerre ( Galium sterneri).

A little south of Feggeklit is the moler museum in Sejerslev, open in the summer season. Here is a rich collection of 55 million year old fossils of plants, trees, birds, fish and insects. Near the museum is a gravel pit, where people can go fossil-hunting and thengo to the museum to have their finds examined.

From the parking place it is possible to go up on the steep cliff to enjoy the view or walk along the cliff. At extreme high tide and strong western wind it is not possible to walk along the beach.this usually happens in the winter season.

It is not allowed to dig for finds or cleave stones in the cliff.



Beach meadows with cattle at Feggesund.


The memorial stone by "King Fegge's grave" at Feggeklit.

The northern part of Mors with Hanklit, Skarrehage and Feggeklit is part of the moler landscape of Limfjorden. According to legends was Feggeklit created, when the sorceress from Dybhav had to visit her family in Thy. She filled her apron with earth in order to get across the waters without getting her feet wet. The apron broke and the cliff rose high above Limfjorden.

The legend about king Fegge and prince Hamlet.
According to legend a royal castle was situated at Feggeklit. In the castle resided two kings. They were the brothers Fegge og Horvendil. Since the kingdom was too small for two kings, they ruled by turns three years at a time; he, who did not rule the land, went sailing as a pirate and stayed away for three years. Horvendil was married to the beautiful Geruth, with whom he had the son Hamlet. King Fegge fell in love with Geruth. When Horvendil came back after three years as a pirate, king Fegge killed him. Now Fegge was sole king, and he married Geruth. Prince Hamlet was sent away, but one day he came back and killed king Fegge, revenging his father.

King Fegge was buried at the western side of Feggeklit with his golden sword. At present has been raised a memorial stone. The legend forms the basis of Shakespeare's tragedy about prince Hamlet. He has placed his scene at Kronborg castle, but the legend origins from Feggeklit.

Source: Politikens store Danmarksbog ; Feggeklit og Skarrehage molerværk, Feggeklit Færgekro.


photo 2002: grethe bachmann

White Admiral/Hvid Admiral

Limenitis camilla


White Admiral, Hannenove Skov, Falster

The White Admiral is rather rare in Denmark, but it appears in big numbers locally and in certain years. It is most frequent in Nordsjælland and at the islands Lolland-Falster, Bornholm and Møn. Cool early summers seem to reduce the population. It has been breeding at Funen, but has not been found there after 1986. Only few findings from Jutland and no one later than 1950.



The wing span is 48-60 mm. It is easy to recognize by the pretty, black-white upperside pattern. The underside is brown-red with white and blue-grey parts and a double row of black spots in the seam-field. The variation is little, but there is a rare form without or with strongly reduced white markings. The flying season is from first July until first August. The best time is usually in the second week of July. The flight is an elegant sailing with few wing strokes. It flies often in the height of about two meter out and in between the foliage and often sits upon a leaf. It seeks especial eagerly to flowering blackberries in small glades, along paths, roads and edges of forests.

Its habitat is forests with vigorous growth of Common Honeysuckle (Lonicera pericyclemum). The caterpillar's food plant is either Common Honeysucke or rarely Fly Honeysuckle (Lonicera xylosteum), or snowberry/waxberry (Symphoricarpos rivularis).

Source: Michael Stoltze: Sommerfugle i Danmark 1997

White Admiral in other countries.

photo Hannenove skov, Falster, July 2007: grethe bachmann