Jällabjär, Naturreservat

In the days of the pterodactyls and dinosaurs, the Scanian landscape was far more dramatic than today. Over 150 volcanoes spewed lava and ash across the plains. Jällabjär (Gällabjer) is one of the volcanoes that has long since fallen silent and is today a lush hill in the agricultural landscape outside Röstånga. Hike through beech forest and grazed juniper fields up to the top and enjoy the view!

Volcanic remains provide rich flora

North of Röstånga, between Söderåsen and Hallandsåsen, a plain area spreads out. Here, a gently rounded hill rises above the flat landscape. It is Jällabjär, which rises about 50 meters above the surroundings. The hill was originally one of the volcanoes that were active 100-180 million years ago.

Today you don't see much of the volcanoes in the Scanian landscape. Most of it has eroded away. But you can still find remnants of the lava that solidified in the center of the crater when the volcano extinguished. It formed the hard and resilient rock basalt. On the top of the hill on the eastern side of the reserve, after some searching, you can find hexagonal basalt pillars in the ground. However, the easiest way to see these black stones is in the stone walls up here.

A varied landscape

The nature around Jällabjär is varied, with beech forests, alpine meadows, pastures and juniper fields. A hundred years ago, Jällabjär was part of a large grazing landscape, but today the gently rounded hill is covered in beech.

The marsh below the hill is now home to a moist alder forest. The basalt of the bedrock means that the nutrient content is high in the soil. In spring, the beech forest at the top is filled with yellow anemones, spring onions, little nunwort and desm buds, while the pastures below are covered with white anemones.

Outdoor life

Skåneleden, which comes from Söderåsens national park Link to another website. (Röstånga), enters the western part of Jällabjärs nature reserve. The Skåneleden trail goes up to the top and then continues to the nearby reserve Anderstorps eneskog Link to another website.. In Jällabjär there are also two circular loops of just over 3 km. Both go through both pastures and forest. The blue loop starts at the western entrance (parking lot), the yellow one starts at the southern entrance. Both go up to the top of the old volcano. At the southern entrance (parking lot) there is also a shelter, fire pit and dry toilet. Remember to bring charcoal if you are going to barbecue and to take your rubbish home. In Naturum Söderåsen, half a mile away, you can immerse yourself in Jällabjär's exciting past.

In English

Welcome to Jällabjär Nature Reserve

Marked trails lead you through a varied, ancient, grazed landscape, through lush woodlands and up an ancient volcano. The pasture is full of bushes, old, open-grown oak and beech trees, and lots of apple trees. Furthest to the south, there are tables and benches, and the Skåneleden Trail shelter with a barbeque area.

When you see the top of Jällabjär rise above the surroundings, you can almost imagine the volcano that some 190 million years ago spewed out glowing lava, smoke, and ash.

Today, the woodland has closed in around the top of the extinct volcano, but you can see remains from historic generations' agriculture in the form of stone walls and cairns. Some of the old trees have extensive crowns - they grew up in an open landscape where they could stretch out their branches. Unusual lichens and fungi grow on these old trees, and birds and bats can nest in their hollows.

If you visit the pasture in May, you will be greeted by flowering apple trees andhawthorns. Heather, harebells, and more unusual herbs, such as leopard's bane and bugle grow here. Flowering trees and bushes that also provide shelter, attract both insects and birds. Here you might see a black-veined white butterfly fluttering by orhear the clear song of the lesser whitethroat from inside a bush.

Regulations

Within Jällabjär Nature Reserve it is forbidden to:

• remove, dig, bore, paint, or in any other way damage the ground, cliffs, stones, stone walls, natural objects, or archaeological remains,
• camp or set up equipment for sleeping overnight, other than in designated places for more than 48 hours,
• park up a caravan, camper van, or equivalent between the hours of midnight and five am,
• light a fire/barbeque except with firewood or charcoal you have brought or that is provided, other than in the designated places. The use of camping stoves is permitted in the Nature Reserve,
• cycle other than on the roads,
• horseride/drive with a horse,
• bring a dog that is not physically held on a lead,
• remove dead wood, break branches, fell or in any other way damage living or dead trees and bushes,
• put out or up notices, plaques, signs, posters, or equivalent.

Without permission from the County Administrative Board, it is also forbidden to:

• catch insects, spiders, snails, or other invertebrates other than with nets, by hand, or other selective methods, and which does not destroy the animals' habitat, and with subsequent re-release within the nature reserve
• collect mosses, lichens, or wood-living fungi, *
• organize competitions, training, camps, or equivalent activities.

* Except for one-off specimens (of species hard to identify), on the basis that the record is registered in Artportalen, or an equivalent national database, and that the collection does not contravene any wildlife protection regulations.