Holmhällar, Naturreservat

Right next to Holmhällar guesthouse is an exciting rauk area that runs in an arc along the beach from Holm's fishing village to Skvalpvik. The shapes of the rauks really invite you to climb or to imaginative interpretations of what they might represent.

The raku area at Holmhällar is up to 40 meters wide, almost a kilometer long and follows the shoreline in an arc from Skvalpvik in the north to Holm's fishing village in the southwest. The rocks are dense, and many of them are large and oddly shaped. The tallest are almost five meters high.

The rock, which consists of reef limestone, is rich in fossils, especially of stromatoporoids (sponges commonly known as "cat skulls" or "aitls"), but also contains corals, sea lilies and bryozoans.

Above the rauk area, the bedrock is covered by shingle, deposited in distinctive valleys. The ramparts are only patchily covered with vegetation. Common plants here are bluebell, tulkwort, yellow poppy, common chickweed, carpetwort and bluebell. In some places there are junipers and rose bushes.

Almost 600 meters outside Holmhällar is the island of Heligholmen, which is a Natura 2000 and bird protection area. A large number of birds of different species nest here, including cormorant, barnacle goose, eider, herring gull, sandwich tern, common tern, oystercatcher and redshank.