Torups ängar, Naturreservat

Torups ängar is located at Vitaby outside Simrishamn. Despite its name, it is a large forest reserve with many large old oaks and beeches. But just as the name suggests, the land has been more open and used for grazing and meadow mowing in older times. Imagine a pasture with scattered oaks. These oaks are the old trees in today's beech forest. The meadow plants on the ground have been replaced by forest species, but you can still find meadow flowers such as almond blossom and meadowsweet in the remaining pastures. The area's high natural values are otherwise linked to the old and dead tree giants. They are rich in life with rare fungi such as coral tick and cinnabar mussel and the exclusive beetle beech forest redcoat. There are no paths in the reserve, but it is possible to roam freely or walk on the dirt road. There is no parking.

Beech forest with old oaks

Torups ängar is a small hilly reserve between Ravlunda and Vitaby in southeastern Skåne. The beech forest dominates in the area, but there are also oak forests, swamp forests and pastures with trees and shrubs. Klammersbäck winds its way through parts of the forest and pastures. The beech forest contains many old and large oaks and beeches. The area's high natural values are mainly linked to these old and in some cases dead giant trees. They are rich in life with rare fungi such as the sooty fungus, the coral fungus and the cinnabar mussel, as well as the exclusive beetle, the beech forest redcoat. Lichens that indicate the high natural value of the forest are pink lichen, pin lichen, beech spring lichen and beech edge lichen.

The flower meadow that became a beech forest

Despite its name, Torups ängar is a forest reserve with only small pastures in the far east. As the name suggests, there has been meadowland here before. Much of today's oak and beech forest dates from the 20th century, but there are also a large number of oaks and beech trees that are over 200 years old. In the 19th century, these aged tree giants stood sparsely scattered in a flower-rich hay meadow. The meadow plants have been replaced by forest species since the beech forest grew up, but you can still find meadow flowers such as bluebell, little bluebell, cuckoo flower, almond flower, meadowsweet and meadow rush in the remaining pastures. The forest in the eastern part is more nutritious and has a rich spring flowering with species such as desm bud, hollow nunwort, musk madder, toothwort and carpets of yellow and white anemones.

Verkalinjen - with a requirement for firewood for the alum mill

The reserve is located within a two-mile radius of the alum mill in Andrarum and thus within the so-called Verkalinjen. This has meant a particularly large extraction of firewood in the latter part of the 18th and 19th centuries. This contributed to a more open and less wooded landscape at that time. In the 20th century, deciduous trees became more numerous and the forest began to close in. Parts of the open land were also planted with spruce, although the land to the east, Röla forest, continued to be used as pasture. The forest has largely been managed for timber production, but the older stands of forest and some of the scree slopes have been managed more carefully. This is evidenced by all the old, coarse trees and plinth-forming alders. The older stands contain both old beech and oak trees and a relatively large amount of dead wood, both lying and standing. The spruce stands will eventually be felled and converted to broadleaf forest and pasture.

Outdoor life

Torups ängar is located at Vitaby in Simrishamn municipality. Here you will find forests with old beech and oak giants, but also remnants of flower-rich hay meadows. The forest to the east has a rich spring flowering with, among other things, wood anemone, yellow anemone, hollow nettle and toothwort. There are no existing facilities in the area, but there is a forest road that can be used for walking and cycling. You can also roam freely in the forest, but there are damp and difficult parts. There is no parking.

Funded by the European Union