Bløden, by Risø

Greylag Geese roosting on Bløden.

When the Risø Atomic Energy Research Centre was established in 1958, the little inlet called Bløden was closed off for security reasons. This protected status meant that Bløden soon became one of the main roosting sites on the fjord.


Greylag Geese taking to the air, with Bløden in the background.

The large numbers of Greylag geese that gathered here towards the end of summer and in autumn were especially striking, but there were also big flocks of waders (lapwing, golden plover and dunlin). The little islet, Svaleø, in the middle of Bløden, became an important site for both roosting and breeding. When the fjord was frozen over, the cooling water from Risø's reactor maintained an opening in the ice at the north western point of the peninsula. Large flocks of ducks, geese and swans used to gather there.