Styggmurarna, Naturreservat

Styggmurarna is a forest and wetland area that offers varied natural environments. There are no paths in the area, so you can roam freely in the forest. The area is located 15 kilometers south-southeast of Gävle and covers 132 hectares. Many tree species grow here. Both pine, spruce and birch, also ash and alder. Styggmurarna also has calcareous areas where a completely different flora dominates.

Here, pine forests grow with an abundance of fragrant water hemlock. On the moraine islets inside the swamp forest, the almost unaffected coniferous forest is between 150 and 200 years old.

In the nature reserve there are junipers that have grown to the size of trees. Land uplift has meant that the area, which was a sea bay during the Stone Age, is now 40 meters above sea level. What remains of the former bay is a large contiguous swamp forest area with smaller open wetlands and small rich marshes. This means nutrient-poor marshes with high or very high lime content. The swamp forest consists mainly of deciduous and lime- and water-affected forest. The calcareous soil means that orchids such as guckusko, marsh helleborine and marsh helleborine thrive in the area.

There are many animals in the reserve. The spruce budworm beetle, which lives mainly in spruce swamp forests, has been found in the area.