Flemingsbergsskogen Nature Reserve ( sv, Flemingsbergsskogens naturreservat, literary "

Flemingsberg Flemingsberg is a southern suburb of Stockholm, Sweden that is located in Huddinge Municipality in the south-western part of the contiguous Stockholm urban area. It is located approximately 15 minutes by Stockholm commuter rail from central Sto ...

's Forest") is a

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...

Huddinge Municipality Huddinge Municipality ( sv, Huddinge kommun) is a municipality in Stockholm County, east central Sweden. Its seat is located in Huddinge (), which is a part of Stockholm urban area. The municipality is, with its approximately 110,000 inhabitants, ...

south of central

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. The reserve was created in 2006 and encompasses some of land and of water. It is composed of rocky upland areas with

Pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accep ...

forests and

bog A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and muskeg; a ...

s, and nutrient-rich lowland areas with

spruce A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' (), a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal (taiga) regions of the Earth. ''Picea'' is the sole genus in the subfami ...

and

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

forests. On its eastern side it borders to the

Orlången Nature Reserve Orlången Nature Reserve (''Orlångens naturreservat'') is a nature reserve surrounding Lake Orlången in central Huddinge Municipality, south of Stockholm, Sweden. Description The reserve, founded in 1998, encompasses a total area of 15 square ...

.Huddinge Municipality, ''Flemingsbergsskogen''

Biodiversity

Due to the area's inaccessibility, it has been spared from large-scale

forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests, woodlands, and associated resources for human and environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands. Th ...

which has resulted in a unique

biodiversity Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') l ...

encompassing some 300

red-listed The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biologi ...

species dependent of coherent virgin lands. Most notably the

Wood Grouse The western capercaillie (''Tetrao urogallus''), also known as the Eurasian capercaillie, wood grouse, heather cock, cock-of-the-woods, or simply capercaillie , is a heavy member of the grouse family and the largest of all extant grouse species. ...

has a permanent presence in the reserve, and as the area is barely sufficient for the species it is regarded as important to maintain or if possible increase the size of the area. Old pasture-lands along the eastern and northern borders of the area adds further to its biodiversity, as do the Reeds in the Fleminsberg Bay (''Flemingsbergsviken''), the northern inflow of Lake Orlången, which an important locale for several species of

bat Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera.''cheir'', "hand" and πτερόν''pteron'', "wing". With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most bi ...

s. Two historical mines in the area are today filled with water and have become important locales for the rare Great Crested Newt.

History

Several axes from the

Stone Age The Stone Age was a broad prehistoric period during which stone was widely used to make tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years, and ended between 4,000 BC and 2,000 BC, with t ...

found in the area indicates it was first populated about 7,000–8,000 years ago. Two

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...

hill fort A hillfort is a type of earthwork used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze Age or Iron Age. Some were used in the post-Roma ...

s (500 BCE – 1050 CE) within the reserve are believed to have served as retreats from robbers who frequently entered the

Lake Mälaren A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much larger ...

region from the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...

to raid the area. The upland location of these forts must have made them beyond reach for enemies who would hardly drag their ships to a location above sea level. The Stensättra Mansion located south-east of the fort, is believed to date to the

Viking Age The Viking Age () was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonizing, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. It followed the Migration Period and the Ger ...

, though the present building was created in the 1820s.

Notes

References

* {{dead link, date=October 2010, bot=H3llBot Nature reserves in Sweden Geography of Stockholm County Tourist attractions in Stockholm County Protected areas established in 2006 2006 establishments in Sweden

Biodiversity

History

See also

Notes

References