Skoghejdan, Naturreservat

Skoghejdan nature reserve is located in a gently rolling agricultural landscape and, together with the Ållskog and Svartskylle reserves, constitutes one of Skåne's largest contiguous areas of natural pasture. Unusual amphibians and insects thrive in the rugged landscape.

For a very long time, Skoghejdan and its surroundings were outlying land for the villages in the area. Over the centuries, grazing animals and timber extraction have shaped the landscape and given rise to the varied environment we find in the area today. The reserve includes open grasslands, groves of deciduous forest, swamp forest, marshes, scrublands and a number of ponds. The latter arose in connection with peat mining in the early 1900s.

Flowering meadows

The small-scale landscape in Skoghejdan has created conditions for a rich and varied flora and fauna. In the drier parts of the reserve, there are plants such as buttercups, thyme and chickweed. In wetter areas you will instead find wild linden, sedge, mayweed and the orchids meadow bindweed and meadow violet.

Butterflies and beetles

The flower-rich soils are also home to a large number of butterflies, including the six-spotted bastard swallowtail and the violet-edged goldenwing. The combination of meadowland and old, coarse deciduous trees also means that there is an abundance of beetles. The lesser oak beetle has one of its largest populations in Skåne in the reserve, but there are also rarities such as the black May beetle and the large flat-nosed beetle.

Amphibians

Skoghejdan is perhaps best known for its many amphibians. The bell frog, with its strange sound reminiscent of distant church bells, and the bright green leaf frog are perhaps the most conspicuous of the reserve's frogs. However, in and around the ponds, you may also see the common frog, field frog and common toad, as well as great and small newts.

Bird life

Around 60-70 bird species nest in and around the reserve. Grey-crowned grebes nest in the ponds and in the forest areas there are wood pigeons, lesser spotted woodpeckers and green wrens. Various birds of prey often fly over the open fields in search of prey.

In English

Welcome to Skoghejdan Nature Reserve

Grazed, flower-rich slopes mixed with groves of large oaks and beech trees await you at Skoghejdan Nature Reserve. Alder carr and small lakes are hidden in the wet hollows. Our animals have grazed here since the Bronze Age and continue to do so today. Their grazing muzzles in combination with the varied countryside mean that many different species thrive here. If you are lucky you may spot a barbastelle bat hunting insects at dusk, or the lesser capricorn beetle searching for food in the dropwort flowers.

Due to the calcareous soils and grazing animals, the pasture is full of flowers. On the drier parts, plants such as dropwort and breckland thyme thrive, whereas in the wet hollows, early marsh orchid, devil's bit scabious and quaking grass flourish, frequently visited by butterflies, hoverflies, beetles, and bees.

Many insects raise their larvae in the old wood pasture trees. In the spring and summer, you can see the adult beetles and hoverlfies looking for pollen and nectar in the flowers in the pasture.

In the spring, frogs and newts gather in the small pools of Skoghejdan to mate. Their serenading can be heard from a long distance away on still evenings.

Regulations

Within Skoghejdan Nature Reserve it is forbidden to:

• crack, dig, bore, paint or in any other way damage stones, boulders, or other geological formations,
• erect any kind or installation or put out any, for the Reserve, foreign object,
• break branches, fell or in any other way damage living or dead, standing orfallen trees and bushes,
• pick or dig up plants,
• damage fences or other structures,
• catch, collect or introduce insects or other animals or in any other way disturbthe wildlife,
• bring a dog or any other pet not on a lead,
• horseride other than on the forestry road,
• light a fire,
• camp or park up a caravan, camper van or equivalent,
• drive a motor vehicle other than on the designated roads or car parks,
• park other than in a designated car park,
• use radios, musical instruments, or other sound equipment in a disturbing way,
• put up notices, signs, inscriptions, posters, tape, or any other equivalent items.