Kallgatburg, Naturreservat

From Bjers, about 1.7 kilometers north of Hejnum Church, a sign points to Kallgatburg Nature Reserve. Drive in, and you come after just over 2 kilometers to a reserve with beautiful scenery, rich flora and nice hiking trail!

The nature reserve lies on the border between two rock areas. To the north and west are the vast rocky areas of Filehajdar and Hejnum hällar, both of which are formed in hard, hard-weathering limestone. To the east and southeast is the wetland-rich Hejnum Kallgate, where the substrate consists of easily weathered marlstone. The boundary between the two rock types can be seen in the landscape as a slope or marked steepness down towards the lower lying marlstone area. In several places on this slope, groundwater emerges from the ground and gives rise to small streams. In the Kallgatburg nature reserve, the seeping groundwater has created a beautifully formed spring marsh, Rövätar.

In Rövätar you can find most of the plants that are typical of Gotland's spring marshes: axag, grass wool, water lily, marsh lily, mayweed, mountain laurel, brown eye thrush, big hair, sweet vernal grass and marsh keys. It is also home to bloodroot, a species that in Sweden is only found on Gotland.

To the east of Rövätar runs a mighty embankment created by Lake Ancylus, a precursor to the present Baltic Sea, around 8,000 years ago. The embankment is home to one of Sweden's largest stands of yew. The yew is also abundant in the northwestern part of the reserve.

A good way to get to know the reserve is to walk the 2.5-kilometer-long, partially boarded nature trail that runs through the area. Printed guides to the nature trail are available to borrow at the parking lot.