Wild Copenhagen: Deer, Old Oaks and the Lakes

The natural side of Copenhagen, from the red, fallow and sika deer of Jægersborg Dyrehave, the royal deer park at Klampenborg, with its old oaks, bats and fungi, to the Lakes and gardens of the city, with a directory of the parks in our guide.

Copenhagen is a city of water and bicycles, and its wildest place is a short train ride north. At Klampenborg, Jægersborg Dyrehave, the royal deer park, is home to herds of red, fallow and sika deer that wander among old oaks and beeches, below the white hunting lodge of the Hermitage.

This is a short, honest guide to Copenhagen's natural side: the deer park, and the Lakes and gardens of the city itself. Take the train or cycle out, go early in the morning, and bring binoculars.

A short train ride from the city, herds of deer graze below a royal hunting lodge.

The deer of Dyrehaven

The Danish Nature Agency, which manages the park, counts red deer, fallow deer and sika deer, kept at the number that lets their browsing preserve the open plains and the light under the trees. The red deer, which came to Denmark 10,000 years ago, is the country's largest wild land mammal: a stag can stand 140 centimetres at the shoulder and weigh up to 230 kilograms. Hinds and calves keep mostly to the south of the park, stags to the north.

In May about 700 fawns are born and hide in the tall grass for their first days; fallow deer gather in flocks of up to hundreds on the Eremitagesletten, the great plain below the Hermitage.

Old trees, bats and fungi

Dyrehaven's old hollow oaks and beeches are home to large numbers of bats; the noctules wake from hibernation in April. The park has the greatest variety of mushrooms in Denmark, more than 300 species, many of them growing high on the trees, out of reach of the deer. In the city, the Lakes, the King's Garden, the Botanical Garden and the old Assistens Cemetery are the places to walk with the birds.

Feature: the autumn rut

In September and October the deer park fills with the sound of the rut. The red deer stags, which spend the rest of the year apart, come down to meet the hinds, roaring and clashing antlers, and the fallow bucks take their stands. Watch from a distance and give the stags room: this is the one season when they are dangerous.

Did you know? Jægersborg Dyrehave is part of the Par Force Hunting Landscape in North Zealand, inscribed by UNESCO as a World Heritage site in 2015.

Our advice

Our advice: take the train to Klampenborg and walk in through the Klampenborg gate; the Eremitagesletten is best early in the morning. Keep a good distance from the deer, especially during the rut and when the fawns are hidden in the grass in early summer, never feed them, and keep dogs on a lead.