Krontallen, Naturreservat

Old-growth forest, fallen trees, mossy boulders and the plaintive cry of a buzzard - Krontallen offers a wilderness experience on a small scale.

Traces from the ice age

The amount of large boulders in the middle of the otherwise fertile and relatively stone-free Fellingsbro plain surprises the visitor. The highland and boulder-strewn landscape of the reserve consists of so-called dead ice moraine and was created during our last ice age. Dead ice is formed when a huge block of ice is cut off from a glacier and no longer has any internal movement of its own. It can then remain for hundreds of years, and moraine falls into the cracks and cavities of the melting ice. In this way, an irregular landscape of hills, pits and ridges was formed.

Varied forest with room for many

It has always been difficult to carry out forestry in the rugged terrain. Only a few trees were cut down by so-called picking. Today, the reserve is left to develop freely to protect species threatened by modern forestry. A forest that is left to manage itself is characterized by great variety. There are different species of trees as well as trees of different ages. Because the trees remain standing even when they die, there are plenty of dead trees that slowly decay with the help of wood-eating fungi and insects.

Mushrooms high and low

The forest in the area is dominated by pine and spruce, but with elements of birch, aspen and alder. Here and there are pine trees that are up to 300 years old. Each type of tree has its own special species associated with it. The red-yellow foxtail is one of many species that depend on aspen; look out for it on dead or dying aspen trunks. Blueberries and brambles grow on the ground, and lingonberries and melons can be found in dry areas. The large blocks are covered with moss and rockrose, and the damp moss on the ground is home to pine needlewort, knotweed and linen. In some parts of the coniferous forest stands, bearded lichens are abundant. If you are looking for edible mushrooms, you can also find plenty of chanterelle, funnel chanterelle and black trumpet mushrooms.

Mysterious plant and bird sounds

Pine herb is a plant that thrives in the mossy coniferous forest. It is completely devoid of chlorophyll and has a fleshy, yellowish stem. The flowers, which are also yellowish, are arranged in a curved cluster. If you're lucky, you might catch a glimpse of a capercaillie, our largest wild fowl. You'll probably hear the pecking sounds of one of the forest's many woodpeckers searching for larvae in dead tree trunks. Occasionally, you'll hear the mighty caw of the raven or the call of the buzzard from above.

Accessibility

Krontallen belongs to level 1 in the county administrative board's leveling of the county's nature reserves, which means that the reserve has a wilderness character and lacks outdoor recreation facilities.