Norra Ölsdalen, Naturreservat

The slope of the Norra Ölsdalen nature reserve is steep and everywhere there are small boulders alternating with larger boulders. Spruce forest grows here, but the many deciduous trees break off and make the forest brighter. The reserve is long and narrow and follows the eastern side of the Ölsdalen rift valley. In the south, the reserve goes all the way down to Ölsdalsviken.

Sacrificial gifts for Fasaskogen

At the bottom in the south you will find an offering box. Next to an old path is a large boulder in whose protection there is a collection of smaller stones. It is said that in the past, people put a stone there when traveling through Fasaskogen, the inaccessible forest area east of Lake Ölen. If you only remembered the offering, you could walk safely throughout the forest and not have to worry about evil spirits and supernatural beings.

Unusual mushrooms

Both the common aspen tick and the much rarer large aspen tick cause rot in trees. The large aspen tick is found in Norra Ölsdalen. If you see aspens with protruding fruiting bodies that are up to 30 cm, it is the rare fungus you have discovered. Another eye-catching fungus is the yellow thorn fungus, which forms large sulphur-yellow mats among the spruces.

Woodpeckers like old aspens

Among the hundred-year-old spruces in the reserve there are many aspens and birches. Almost all aspen trees are infected with the fungus aspen tick, which causes the trees to get heart rot and eventually become hollow. This is why cavity-nesting forest birds appreciate old aspens. The rot makes it easier for woodpeckers, such as the woodpecker, to build their large and deep nest holes in the trunks. Hollow aspens help birds as well as beetle larvae and other invertebrates to survive the winter cold.

Accessibility

Norra Ölsdalen 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.