Ållskog, Naturreservat

Ållskog Nature Reserve is located in a hilly agricultural landscape and, together with the Svartskylle and Skoghejdan reserves, constitutes one of Skåne's largest contiguous areas of natural pastures. There are almost 20 ponds in the reserve with a very abundant presence of amphibians.

Ancient cultural landscape

The area around Ållskog has been grazed by mainly cattle for a very long time. The area constitutes a unique remnant of the once extensive outlying pastures that existed in the Baldringe area. Since people have lived in the area since at least the Bronze Age, there are plenty of ancient remains, mainly in the form of old fences and ridged fields.

The ancient cultural landscape has high biological values. Among the plants growing in the fields are meadowsweet and spruce spirea, as well as orchids such as meadowsweet and meadowsweet. Ållskog Nature Reserve has one of the country's largest populations of old beech trees. There are also around twenty hornbeams, some of which are very large. In total, there are 48 different species of trees and shrubs in the reserve.

Due to the long-term management, there is a rich flora of fungi in the meadows, including meadow fungi such as wax moths and scarlet wax moths.

Known frog locality

However, Ållskog is perhaps best known for its rich frog life. In the reserve's nearly 20 ponds there is an abundance of, for example, leaf frog, bell frog, great crested newt and onion frog. The area is one of the most important basal sites in the country for both the leaf frog and the bell frog. In spring and early summer, you can hear the species playing. The leaf frog's intense buzzing sounds are mainly heard in the evenings, but the bell frog's special sound, reminiscent of distant church bells, can also be heard during the day.

Rich bird life

The grazed land has a very rich bird life. Yellowhammer, warbler and shrike are found in the reserve. Red kites and buzzards often circle over the open fields, and brown and blue harriers are regularly seen. Gray partridge and coot nest in the ponds.

Ållskog also has a rich insect life with many beetles and butterflies. Among the rarities, the butterflies six-spotted bastard swarmers and violet-edged goldwing can be mentioned. Golden-green velvet bumblebee, large cardinal beetle and spotted flower beetle are some of the more notable beetles in the reserve.

In English

Welcome to Ållskog Nature Reserve

In Ållskog you are greeted by gently rolling pastures with pools of water that glisten in the hollows. Large, old, and gnarled, the beech trees of the pasture stretch out their branches. In the spring, bushes and scrub bloom in white and pink while the song of the male frogs attract the females.

Ållskog, Skoghejdan and Svartskylle Nature Reserves bind together the extensive, hilly grazed landscape you see before you. It is still only a small remnant of the large common pastures that the villages and farms of Baldringe shared in the early 1800s. Our animals have grazed here for thousands of years and still do so today.

The diversity of the countryside allows many species to coexist. Herb-rich, open grasslands alternate with ponds, scrub, and groves of trees. Butterflies, bees, and beetles are attracted by the nectar and pollen of the flowers. The insects in turn become food for the birds, bats, and frogs.

Beetles and wild bees have their young in the old beech trees. Bats and birds live in the larger cavities in the trees.

But the real celebrities of Ållskogs are the frogs and toads. In the spring you can listen to everything from the loud-voiced common tree frog and fire-bellied toad to the more subdued spadefoot toad and newts. For a different kind of serenade, you can return to listen to the roar of the red deer on a misty autumn day.

Regulations

Within Ållskog Nature Reserve it is forbidden to:

• dig up or damage in any other way natural objects or geological formations,
• light a fire,
• dig up plants, pick mosses, lichens, or wood-living fungi,
• remove dead wood, break branches, fell or damage in any other way living or dead trees and bushes,
• bring dogs or any other pets not held on lead,
• park up caravans, camper vans or equivalent for more than five hours,
• organize competitions or other activities which can interfere with ordisturb the wildlife or natural environment.

Without written permission from the County Administrative Board, it is also forbidden to:

• wade in the ponds,
• kill or collect animals, or in any other way injure or disturb the wildlife,
• collect invertebrates e.g., beetles or molluscs. One-off samples may be collected on the condition that this does not contravene any wildlife protection regulations and that traps are not used,
• put up notices, signs, inscriptions, posters, or any other equivalent items,
• put out foreign objects (e.g., geocaches or equivalent).