Stormaren

  • Visit Öland
  • Visit Öland
  • Visit Öland
  • Visit Öland
  • Visit Öland
Address: Torngårdsvägen, 380 65 Degerhamn, Sverige
Location: Southern Öland
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The deepest lake on the Alvar

Stormaren is situated in a distinct dip in the bedrock and is the deepest of the alvar lakes. Stormaren is a bird sanctuary to which access is prohibited during the breeding season. Several seabird species breed here.

 

Grebes, geese, birds of prey

Little grebes and horned grebes breed in Stormaren, and if you are lucky it is possible to see them in the spring around the sedge and reed beds. Rare ducks such as the northern shoveller and garganey can also be seen. In recent years, water rail and common snipe have increased in numbers in the area. Flocks of greylag geese often stay at the lake during the summer. Geese families stay together during their migration to and from wintering sites to help the young birds learn to find their way. The wintering sites for greylag geese are now mostly in the Netherlands. At Stormaren you can also see birds of prey such as western marsh harriers and Montagu’s harriers, which hunt in the area now and again. Blue harriers and rough-legged buzzards can sometimes be seen in the autumn. Even eagles come here, such as the mighty white-tailed eagle and also, later in the autumn, golden eagles.

 

A variety of environments

There are a number of different environments in Stormaren Nature Reserve. Closest to the lake there are wetlands with various types of reeds and sedges, common club-rush and water clover, and wet meadows with devil’s-bit scabious and Irish fleabane. To the east and the south of the lake there are wet areas that dry out during the summer. The areas of alvar in the reserve are dominated by moorland with the hoary rock-rose and sheep’s fescue as typical species and flat rock areas with karst fissures in the limestone. In the western and central parts of the area, there are deeper layers of soil with dry meadows full of vegetation and wet meadows. The dry meadows are well grazed and feature plants such as dropwort, common rock rose, spring cinquefoil, hairy rock cress, fairy flax, meadow oat grass, large self-heal and quaking grass.

 

Facts:

Size: 213 ha (526 acres)

Year of creation: 2002

Purpose: To preserve and care for the bird life, the particularly valuable wetlands and the surrounding wet meadows and alvar areas with their rich flora. The area is part of Natura 2000, the EU’s ecological network of protected areas.

 

Directions/Location:

Follow route 136 on Öland for about 37 km southwards. Turn off at Södra Möckleby towards Tornegård above the alvar. Around the middle of the alvar there is parking, information and a picnic area available at Gräsgård quarry. From here it is about 1 km on foot to the nature reserve.

GPS coordinates to the parking lot WGS 84 decimal (lat, long): 56.35259 , 16.46335

 

Important note:

The area may not be entered between 1 April and 31 July.

 Stormaren

Map: Naturcentrum AB, Stenungsund.

Download: the County administrative boards brochure over (in Swedish only) (620 kB): Stormaren

Download: the entire brochure (in Swedish only) (19 MB)Utflyktsguide Öland

© Lantmäteriverket, Ur Geografiska Sverigedata, översiktskartan Dnr. 106-2004/188”

Source: County Administrative Board, Kalmar

Translation: Visitoland.com