Skärte, Naturreservat

Skärte consists of two hills with heath forest separated by a stream ravine. Stenån flows through the ravine. There are no marked paths but it is quite easy to get around in the forest.

There are several interesting vascular plants in the ravine, such as bladderwort, marsh marigold, oxeye daisy, northern marsh marigold, wreathwort and wood anemone. In the heath forest, large bud lichen, lung lichen and grainy felt lichen grow on the trunks.

Spawning salmon

The river is home to salmon, a species listed in the EU Habitats Directive. The species listed in the Species and Habitats Directive are considered worthy of protection from a European perspective. The Stenån river has undergone restoration, including the removal of an old dam that prevented fish from migrating upstream. Salmon can now spawn in their old spawning grounds for the first time in a couple of hundred years.

Insects like dead wood

West of the reserve is a pasture. The fact that there is both old forest and pasture benefits the insect fauna in the area. Several species require both access to dead wood, which is only found in older forests, and access to pollen-producing flowers, which are found in open fields. Skärte is also home to the red-listed lesser spotted woodpecker, which finds much of its food in the forest's old and dead trees.

History of the area

According to older maps, the area was not forested in the 17th century, but was probably used as pasture. However, at that time there was a large contiguous deciduous forest area just a few kilometers away that stretched for miles in both north-south and east-west directions. This deciduous forest area included, among other things, Åkulla beech forests located five kilometers south of Skärte. By the middle of the 19th century, most of the area had begun to be covered with deciduous forest, and by the beginning of the 20th century Skärte was completely forested except for two small fields.

Proximity to several reserves

One kilometer north of Skärte is the Hallagården reserve and 500 meters south is the Gässlösa reserve. Both areas have similar moorland forests. The proximity of the reserves allows the threatened species to spread between the areas.