nature areas in the municipality, and many of them are protected. The municipality is also located by the Limfjord, which is a large fjord that separates the North Jutlandic Island from mainland Jutland. The fjord is home to a large variety of flora and fauna. A beach, heath and dune area known as Grønnestrand and Svinkløv was protected in 1972. The area is an important place for breeding birds, with a large variety of birds breeding here. Hingelbjerge is a forest and heath which has been protected since 1968. 129 acres are protected. Southeast of Fjerritslev are 136 protected acres of heath and forest. This area is known as Skårhøjene. In the forest breed several birds, including the European green woodpecker and Eurasian nuthatch. Other protected nature areas in the municipality include the hills of Alsbjerg Hills (Danish: Alsbjerg Bakker), covering 40 acres. Also protected is approximately 9 acres around the large rock of Janum Kjøt. Dune plantations In the northwestern corner of the municipality, bordering Thisted Municipality, is Vester Thorup Dune Plantation (Danish: Vester Thorup Klitplantage). In it is a small protected area. It's a chalk cliff with a unique flora known as Valbjerg Sande. Vester Thorup Dune Plantation is home to a rich flora, including plants such as drug eyebright, deer fern, wintergreen, rought horsetail, lesser twayblade, marsh helleborine, butterwort, moonwort, Danish kidneyvetch and field gentian. Although the flora is similar in most of the dune plantations along the municipality's coast, there are slight differences. In the Fosdal Plantation, located slightly north between Fjerritslev and Brovst, is a heath which is home to the wolf's bane, a rare plant in Denmark. The fauna in the municipality's dune plantation include many birds and insects. There are mammals, such as polecats and hares, though there generally aren't many mammals in the dune plantations. Tranum Dune Plantation, west of Pandrup, has a population of roe deer, as does Blokhus Dune Plantation further north. The carpenter ant can be found in Vester Thorup Dune Plantation. The marsh fritillary, rare in Denmark, can be found in Tranum Dune Plantation. Birds breeding in the plantations include nightjar, redstart, European pied flycatcher and red-backed shrike. During the winter the white-throated dipper can be found in Svinkløv Plantation and Kollerup Plantation. A large area of 3,000 acres is protected, including parts of Fosdal Plantation and Langdal Plantation. It was protected in 1902, then expanded again in