Valje, Naturreservat

In the surroundings of Valje Manor you can walk along the water in a unique coastal landscape dominated by hardwoods. In Valjeviken you can swim and fish, canoe, sail or ride in other small boats.

Outdoor life

The reserve is close to urban areas and the areas on the mainland are easily accessible via hiking trails and paths. The Valje peninsula in particular is well visited with its paths along the sea and with opportunities for picnics and barbecues, but the southern forest area with the Sölvesborg Trail and other paths is also easily accessible. The beech forest in the north-east can also be walked in. By boat of various kinds, you can move out into the bay Valjeviken where there is the opportunity to fish or go ashore on the island Prästholmen and there are beaches to swim at.

Valje peninsula

The peninsula and the adjacent land south of the manor house consist of wooded pastures and meadows that are grazed. The tree layer in the pasture is dominated by large oaks, with elements of other deciduous trees such as maple, lime, beech and the red-listed species elm and ash. The peninsula has a long history as a pasture and "English park" for Valje manor. Some parts have been mown, but today the whole peninsula is grazed.

Species richness in pasture and broadleaf forest

The forests are dominated by nutritious beech forests. The entrance to Valje Manor is lined with an avenue of very old deciduous trees of various kinds. More than 600 trees worthy of protection, mainly oak, beech, ash, lime and maple, have been inventoried in the area. The area with its coarse pasture trees, open grasslands and beech-dominated broadleaf forests, as well as the long history of the cultural landscape, creates very good conditions for a rich flora and fauna. There are red-listed and other species worthy of protection, such as wood insects like the leatherback beetle and moonhorn beetle, bats like the southern pipistrelle, fungi like the tongue thistle, and lichens like the glossy spot, beech wart lichen and pincushion lichen. In sandy parts of the pastures there is also a protected dung beetle fauna associated with cow dung.

Within the framework of the EU project LIFE Bridging the Gap (BTG), measures were taken in the nature reserve between 2016 and 2022 to benefit oaks and species associated with oak environments.

Valjeviken's marine values

Most of the Blekinge part of the Valjeviken bay is included in the reserve. Sissebäcken has its outlet at the far end of Valjeviken, on the county border with Skåne, and the border runs roughly in the middle of the bay.

The marine environment has shallow soft and hard bottoms. Shallow soft bottoms with a dense and species-rich underwater vegetation that is important for fish reproduction predominate. There are also other bottom structures, such as reef environments and exposed sand and clay bottoms. Valjeviken as a whole is an important breeding and nursery area for fish, while also containing threatened species and biotopes. One such biotope is eelgrass beds, and the red-listed crane's claw algae raggsträfse has been found here.

There are good spawning and nursery areas for many fish species. Valjeviken is a favorable area for coastal predatory fish, such as pike and perch, as there is good access to prey fish. In the Valjeviken conservation area, the part of the bay north of Prästholmen, all fishing is prohibited from January 1 to May 31.

Islands and skerries

In Valjeviken there are the islands Prästholmen and Vållholmen and a large number of small islands. The larger islands are low and consist of silicate grassland and beach meadows. Vållholmen, which is a bird protection area, is one of western Blekinge's most important nesting sites for a number of coastal birds. Species included in the EU Birds Directive are barnacle goose, common scoter, avocet, common tern, sandwich tern and little tern. The waters around the island are used as a wintering ground for large numbers of diving ducks in winter. The bird sanctuary extends 50 meters out into the water with a ban on entry during the period 1 April to 15 July.