Mörrumsåns övre dalgång, Naturreservat

When you visit the Mörrumsån Upper Valley Nature Reserve, you can experience the river up close, as well as its low-lying shorelines and boulder-rich forest slopes along the old embankment that runs through the area. The natural values are high and the cultural history long.

The nature reserve Mörrumsåns övre dalgång is a nature reserve just under three kilometers long with a wilderness feel in Blekinge's northern border areas. In the southwest, the nature reserve borders directly on the nature reserve Mörrumsån Ebbamåla mill. In the south, Käringahejan's nature reserve and then the nature reserve Mörrumsåns dalgång connect, which together follow the course of Mörrumsån south for another 14 kilometers.

Ice river and rocky cliffs

The headwaters of the Mörrum River are located in the highlands of northern Scania, 18 miles from its outlet in Pukavik Bay in the Baltic Sea. For the lowest three miles, the river passes through Blekinge. The Mörrumsån upper valley nature reserve extends from Hovmansbygd up to the county border with Kronoberg. The river follows a clear rift valley, where the highest elevations rise 35 meters above the valley floor. During the Ice Age, an ice river flowed through the valley and left behind ice river deposits, formed into gravelly planes and terraces. These then became good mowing and cultivation areas that were naturally fertilized when the river regularly flooded at high tide. The valley slopes and escarpments are made up of poorer moraine soils, mostly rich or large boulders. But even these were valuable in the old peasant society. Firewood and timber were gathered here and animals were allowed to graze in the forest.

Species-rich river and hillside forests

Mörrumsån is Blekinge's largest river and one of Sweden's most species-rich watercourses, both in terms of fish and other wildlife. Within the nature reserve, the river is calm with few rapids. Long-stemmed vegetation waves over gravel and stone bottoms. Willow leaves also grow in the water and along the edges is the characteristic fern of Mörrumsån. Among the river's wildlife, in addition to the well-known Mörrum salmon, a number of clean water-demanding and acidification-sensitive species thrive here, such as the thick-shelled mussel. This is a highly endangered mussel that has one of its strongest populations in the country in Mörrumsån. Arctic grayling, common tern, great crested grebe and common snipe like to spend time along the river, as do otters and several bat species, such as the southern pipistrelle and the lesser horseshoe bat.

On islands and along the banks there are alder-dominated floodplain forests, willow scrub and open, grazed grasslands. A large number of butterflies, dragonflies and other animals thrive in the richly flowering floodplain environments. Higher ground is characterized by mixed broadleaf forests, with a large proportion of lime trees, and mixed pine-oak forests. It has been difficult to carry out forestry on the slopes and precipices, so here the original forest has largely been left standing. There are therefore very high natural values here today, with many species that are completely dependent on old natural deciduous and pine forests, such as compact thorn fungus, coarse tick, grape finger fungus, elm lichen, bark lichen, shiny spot, barnacle lichen and western house moss.

Border areas and transportation routes

The upper valley of Mörrumsån lies in the old Danish-Swedish border region. Islands in the southern parts of the area with names such as "Kastellet" and "Rustningsholmarna" are reminiscent of older times of unrest.

Mörrumsån has long been important for salmon fishing and as a transportation route. From the county border in the north down to Hovmansbygd there used to be a logging channel, the remains of which can still be found in the water.

The village of Hovmansbygd, in the southern part of the reserve, is a good example of the importance of water and railways for the development of society in the 19th and 20th centuries. When the narrow-gauge Karlshamn-Vislanda railway was opened in 1874, Hovmansbygd got a station. A station community and a number of small industries grew up here. There are still a lot of memories from this time preserved in Hovmansbygd, and on the other side of the river, Ebbamåla mill is today a living industrial memory and popular destination.

Rail traffic through Hovmansbygd ceased in 1979 and today the old embankment is a popular hiking and cycling trail.