Søften

Søften (alternative spellings include Suten (1386), Suchten (1399) and Søwten (1489)) is a small Danish town in Jutland, roughly three kilometers south of Hinnerup and just northwest of Aarhus. Søften has a population of 2,722 (1.January 2014). Archaeological surveys of the area (2), indicate the earliest settlements dates to the Nordic Iron Age.

Søften is located within an area defined by a small river valley. The river valley, formed topographically due to Weichselian glaciation during the last Ice Age, and runs along the North and West sides of Søften city. The area is relatively hilly (by Danish standards), with slopes leading towards the river valley north of Søften. The narrow wetland of Damsbro Mose runs along the northeast and southwerst sides of Søften Valley.

Damsbro Mose is a wetland area, with a very high water table, encompassing both banks of the river Lilleå between Søften and Hinnerup. The large marshland area is a mixture of rich fen, swamp forest, lakes in the form of old gravel pits and fertilized cultivated meadows.

In the southern part of the marsh, the vegetation consists of species such as lesser pond sedge, greater tussock sedge, tussock grass, common reed, reed canary grass, reed mace, willow and alder. In the middle of the marshland area is a section along the river with holy grass. In some of the finer parts of the marsh’s northern area can be found the wettest ground with a wide range of plant life such as obtuse-flowered rush, bottlesedge, two-ranked sedge, marsh bird’s-foot trefoil, European swamp thistle,lesser pond sedge, perennial sedge, meadowsweet, northern water hemlock, bog-bean, great water dock, great spearwort, ragged robin, globe-flower and St Peter’s wort. In the drier areas with small hillocks can be found an exciting lowflora such as star sedge and greater yellow-rattle. Flea sedge and salt marsh flat sedge are common. On and around the hillocks are hawkweed, quaking grass, marsh arrow grass, marsh grass-of-Parnassus, western marsh-orchid as well as the rare valerian. The marsh is also a habitat for bird species such as the marsh warbler, grasshopper warbler, nightingale, common snipe, kestrel, lesser whitethroat, whitethroat, coal tit, willow warbler and the lesser redpoll.

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