Karlevi Södra, Naturreservat

More variety than you might think

The demanding environment has shaped all life on the Alvar, which at first glance may seem rather monotonous. But this is not the case, Karlevi Alvar is a varied environment. There is rocky ground here, where the limestone bedrock is exposed. There are gravel alvars, where frost and water move the gravel around every winter, so that the plants have to acquire coarse roots in order to survive. There are limestone wet meadows covered by a dense carpet of grasses and herbs, and there are wetlands, which dry out in summer and refill with water in winter.

Lots of plants

Sheep grazing on Karlevi alvar creates an environment where plants that depend on a lot of sunlight and short-grazed vegetation can live. Some of them are native to the tundra in the mountains, such as wormwood, gray raba and mountain carnation. Others are specially adapted to the alvar and grow nowhere else in the world, such as island sunflower and alvar wormwood. Orchids flourish where the soil is deeper. In early summer, you can see both fly agarics, Adam and Eve, and St. Peter's keys, which require calcareous, well-grazed soil. The alvar hay meadows are beginning to recover from arable farming, and increasingly resemble the typical dry meadows on the alvar. Field bindweed, cowslip and cowslip grow here.

Bird life

Like the plants, the birds have specific areas that they prefer. Song larks, which start migrating as early as March, are only found in open landscapes. They are the true vanguard of spring, and their jubilant warbles are often heard while the snow is still on the landscape. The stonechat arrives in April, and likes to nest in the stone walls of the meadows. Another typical bird of the Alvar, the hoopoe, thrives in the juniper bushes tamed by the sheep.

Part of the World Heritage Site

The agricultural landscape of southern Öland is included on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The World Heritage Site covers the entire landscape with villages, fields, lakes and Stora Alvaret. Stora Alvaret has been characterized by grazing for several thousand years and the purpose of the nature reserves here is to maintain the unique grazing-dependent cultural landscape, vegetation types that are representative of alvar land and to benefit both the typical and the rare plant and animal species that live in these environments. The aim is also to preserve and make visible Stora Alvaret's cultural and historical remains and to facilitate the public's opportunities to experience its natural and cultural values.

Follow road 136 south towards Ottenby. About 100 m south of Karlevi stone mill there is a small parking lot on the east side of the road by the gate.

In Karlevi North Nature Reserve you are not allowed:

• Drive a motorized vehicle.
• Camp more than one night in the same place.
• Bring a dog or other animal that is not on a leash.
• Make a fire.
• Hunting, killing, capturing or harming wild mammals, amphibians, reptiles or birds.
• Remove or damage eggs or nests.
• Deliberately disturbing wildlife.
• Damage or remove growing trees or shrubs.
• Digging or pulling up plants or plant parts by the roots.
• Collect loose rocks or remove pieces of bedrock.
• Using the area for an orienteering competition or similar.
• Damaging fencing (e.g. fences or barriers).
• Damaging ancient monuments (e.g. stone walls, cairns, etc.)

In Karlevi södra nature reserve you may not:

• Drive a motorized vehicle.
• Camp more than one night in the same place.
• Bring a dog or other animal that is not on a leash.
• Hunt, kill, capture or harm wild mammals, amphibians, reptiles or birds.
• Remove or damage eggs or nests.
• Deliberately disturbing wildlife.
• Collect loose rocks or remove pieces of bedrock.
• Damage or remove trees, shrubs, mosses and lichens that are growing or dead.
• Use the area for orienteering competitions or training.
• Damaging fencing (for example, fences or barriers).
• Using the area for military exercises.