3.3 kmBjålum Dune Loop from Sydladen
Nearby circular route through the same dune, meadow and fjord landscape with birdlife.
Tipper Peninsula is a place where the landscape hardly rises at all, and where the reach of binoculars matters more than the number of steps. Salt marshes, small lakes, channels, ditches, reed beds and shallow fjord flats provide space for ducks, geese, meadow birds and waders, both in the breeding season and during migration.
At Værnengene, the car can be the least disturbing observation post. Birds often tolerate a car better than people on foot, so the best experience can be to sit still, roll down the window and let the flocks come into view. Pedestrians may move along the roads in Værnengene, but this can disturb those trying to see the birds from the car.
The peninsula is divided between Værnengene to the south and Tipperne to the north. Værnengene is the most accessible part, with Nordladen, Værntårnet and roads through the meadows. The Tipper Reserve itself has much stricter rules: access is only by car during the specified periods, and you may not get out along Tippervejen. The slightly inconvenient calm is part of the explanation for why the birds stay here.
The route around Bjålum Klit is the marked hiking trail on Værnengene: about 6 km from Sydladen and around the dune along a narrow path. Along the way, the landscape shifts between meadow, reed bed, old coastal dunes and open views over the Tipper Peninsula.
At Nymindestrømmen, the polders are a bird reserve, especially for gulls and terns. Binoculars make sense, but so does keeping your distance; dogs must be kept on a leash, and the birds often tolerate silence better than footsteps.
The hunting huts on Værnengene are not neat rows of summer cottages, but 327 small hunting and fishing huts in three dense clusters. Many were built from recycled materials such as fish crates, surplus timber, chicken coops and old railway carriages.
The huts are private, so they can only be experienced from the outside. They were once close to being removed, but are now regarded as a heritage monument worth preserving: handmade, modest and a little crooked in a landscape where the birds still set the pace.
Tipperne is the northern, strictly regulated part of the Tipper Peninsula: flat salt marshes, shallow fjord water, small lakes, wet meadows, and reed beds, where meadow birds and migratory birds take top priority.
Access is only by car during open periods, and you may not get out along Tippervejen. On foot, movement is limited to the area around Tipperhuset, the bird tower, and the marked path to the bird hide. Dogs are not allowed; here the car is often the most discreet bird tower.
The Watchtower is one of the places where Værnengene is easiest to read: flat, wet meadows, reed beds, loer and the southern part of Ringkøbing Fjord lie open in front of the tower.
The tower was inaugurated in the summer of 2021 and serves as both a birdwatching tower, viewing point and lunch house. Here you can look for geese, ducks, waders and spoonbills without going out into the sensitive areas. Inside the tower there are landscape friezes by Jens Overgaard Christensen.
Nordladen is the practical stop on the Tipper Peninsula: here you will find parking, a nature exhibition, and two toilets, one of which is wheelchair accessible.
The exhibition uses Jens Gregersen’s illustrations to tell about the cycle of the year in bird life, the landscape on the Tipper Peninsula and Værnengene, as well as the area’s hunting cabins and hunting traditions. A short key to the flat landscape outside.
