Björsåkra-Bölinge, Naturreservat

Björsåkra-Bölinge is nestled in the forest landscape up on Hallandsåsen. Most of the reserve consists of open heathland. There is no marked trail, but you can wander along many small paths. The area is very hilly and from the heights you get a beautiful view of the landscape.

The grazed land in the reserve is a remnant of the once very extensive heather moors of Halland. On the dry southern slopes, the heather dominates, while the blueberry grass forms dense mats on the wetter northern slopes.

Marshes and beech forests

In the hollows there are bogs where bell heather and bog lily grow. In the far south, sparse beech forest grows in Turfarahultet. Many beech trees are multi-stemmed and look like candelabra, a look that the beech trees get when they grow up in open environments. The way the trees grow also indicates that the beech forest was previously used as pasture.

Burning has been important

Burning the heather used to be a very important part of land management. The aim of burning was to establish grass vegetation for a few years and to rejuvenate the heather, thus providing better grazing for the animals. In the first few years after burning, the grass dominates, but eventually the heather takes over. If no new burning takes place, after a while the heather becomes coarse and less palatable to the grazing animals, while it smothers other vegetation.

Horst of primeval rock

Hallandsåsen is not a ridge in the true sense of the word, but a horst of bedrock. The bedrock horst was formed during a turbulent period in the earth's history that occurred about 70-100 million years ago when the rock was lifted up above the surrounding bedrock.