Spegeldammen ( sv, (the) Mirror Pond) is a small

lake 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 large ...

Norra Djurgården NORRA or Norra may refer to: * Nordic Regional Airlines, a Finnish airline operating on behalf of, and formerly majority-owned by, Finnair * National Off-Road Racing Association, a desert off-road racing association * Norra (village) Norra (germa ...

in north-eastern 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 ...

. It is one of six lakes in

Djurgården Djurgården ( or ) or, more officially, ''Kungliga Djurgården'' (), is an island in central Stockholm, Sweden. Djurgården is home to historical buildings and monuments, museums, galleries, the amusement park Gröna Lund, the open-air museum ...

, the others being Lillsjön, Uggleviken,

Isbladskärret Isbladskärret is a small lake on Djurgården, an island in central Stockholm, Sweden. The lake is much appreciated among bird-watchers, and, being part of the Royal National City Park, also carefully monitored by several organizations, including t ...

, Laduviken, and Lappkärret. Located in the

Royal National City Park The Royal National City Park ( sv, Kungliga nationalstadsparken) is a national city park, established by the Riksdag in 1995, and located in the municipalities of Stockholm, Solna and Lidingö in Sweden. 1/ km²2/ Population per km² Gallery ...

, Spegeldammen is considered of great recreational value and forms part of a proposed nature reserve. It was created in the early 1980s after a shooting range here was closed and is today leased by an angling club for catch-and-release fishery.

Catchment area

The catchment area is dominated by open

meadow A meadow ( ) is an open habitat, or field, vegetated by grasses, herbs, and other non-woody plants. Trees or shrubs may sparsely populate meadows, as long as these areas maintain an open character. Meadows may be naturally occurring or artifi ...

s with oaks in the patches of forest. During most of the 20th century, the area found use as a shooting range, and as a waterlogged marsh where excavated earth and other material was dumped. The range was discontinued in 1978 and shortly thereafter sediments from the nearby Laduviken and other excavated material was disposed within the present catchment area of Spegeldammen, and the lake was created in connection with the housing of the deposits. Today a small pavilion is sitting on the eastern shore of the lake and sheep are grazing the area during summers.Vattenprogram, p 3.3

Environmental influence

Water contains moderate levels of

phosphorus Phosphorus is a chemical element with the symbol P and atomic number 15. Elemental phosphorus exists in two major forms, white phosphorus and red phosphorus, but because it is highly reactive, phosphorus is never found as a free element on Ear ...

and

nitrogen Nitrogen is the chemical element with the symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a nonmetal and the lightest member of group 15 of the periodic table, often called the pnictogens. It is a common element in the universe, estimated at se ...

, but sediments contain considerable levels of

lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...

zinc Zinc is a chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. Zinc is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodi ...

cadmium Cadmium is a chemical element with the symbol Cd and atomic number 48. This soft, silvery-white metal is chemically similar to the two other stable metals in group 12, zinc and mercury. Like zinc, it demonstrates oxidation state +2 in most of ...

, and

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...

. Present activities in and around the lake causes insignificant damage, but historical usage still affects the lake through drainpipes. The lake was drained in 2001 and specimen of water leaking out of the lake bed showed considerable levels of

phosphate In chemistry, a phosphate is an anion, salt, functional group or ester derived from a phosphoric acid. It most commonly means orthophosphate, a derivative of orthophosphoric acid . The phosphate or orthophosphate ion is derived from phospho ...

and

ammonium The ammonium cation is a positively-charged polyatomic ion with the chemical formula or . It is formed by the protonation of ammonia (). Ammonium is also a general name for positively charged or protonated substituted amines and quaternary a ...

, while levels of

nutrient A nutrient is a substance used by an organism to survive, grow, and reproduce. The requirement for dietary nutrient intake applies to animals, plants, fungi, and protists. Nutrients can be incorporated into cells for metabolic purposes or excret ...

s, zinc and copper were low. Specimen of the outflow in 1998, however, showed increased levels of copper, zinc, and to some extent of cadmium, and land specimen in the abandoned embankments of the shooting range showed they contained levels of lead exceeding officially sanctioned levels.

Flora and fauna

During the 1990s,

aquatic plant Aquatic plants are plants that have adapted to living in aquatic environments (saltwater or freshwater). They are also referred to as hydrophytes or macrophytes to distinguish them from algae and other microphytes. A macrophyte is a plant that ...

s, mostly

rigid hornwort ''Ceratophyllum demersum'', commonly known as hornwort, rigid hornwort, coontail, or coon's tail, is a species of ''Ceratophyllum''. It is a submerged, free-floating aquatic plant, with a cosmopolitan distribution, native to all continents except ...

, have spread and now covers the lake bed. Along the shores are dense stands of

common reed ''Phragmites australis'', known as the common reed, is a species of plant. It is a broadly distributed wetland grass that can grow up to tall. Description ''Phragmites australis'' commonly forms extensive stands (known as reed beds), which may ...

, lesser bulrush, common bulrush, and unbranched bur-reed.Vattenprogram, p 3.5 The shores are dominated by various species of

Oligochaeta Oligochaeta () is a subclass of animals in the phylum Annelida, which is made up of many types of aquatic and terrestrial worms, including all of the various earthworms. Specifically, oligochaetes comprise the terrestrial megadrile earthworm ...

Gastropoda The gastropods (), commonly known as snails and slugs, belong to a large taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, from freshwater, and from land. ...

, and

Odonata Odonata is an order of flying insects that includes the dragonflies and damselflies. Members of the group first appeared during the Triassic, though members of their total group, Odonatoptera, first appeared in Late Carboniferous. The two comm ...

. Superficial sediments are dominated by Oligochaeta and non-biting midges while deeper layers contain the freshwater

crustacean Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group ...

Asellus aquaticus ''Asellus aquaticus'' is a freshwater crustacean resembling a woodlouse. It is known by various common names including pond slater, water louse, aquatic sowbug, water hoglouse and cress bug. Ecology ''Asellus aquaticus'' is common throughout the ...

'' and larvae of

mayflies Mayflies (also known as shadflies or fishflies in Canada and the upper Midwestern United States, as Canadian soldiers in the American Great Lakes region, and as up-winged flies in the United Kingdom) are aquatic insects belonging to the orde ...

and Odonatas. '' Gyraulus crista'' and '' Hippeutis complanatus'' are unusual freshwater snails present in the lake. The most common dragonfly is the

emerald damselfly ''Lestes sponsa'', is a damselfly, with a wide Palaearctic distribution. It is known commonly as the emerald damselfly or common spreadwing. Both males and females have a metallic green colour and when resting its wings are usually half opened. ...

, but

azure damselfly The azure damselfly (''Coenagrion puella'') is a species of damselfly found in most of Europe. It is notable for its distinctive black and blue colouring. They are commonly found around ponds and lakesides during the summer. Morphology Adults ...

, variable damselfly, scarce emerald damselfly,

common blue damselfly ''Enallagma cyathigerum'' (common blue damselfly, common bluet, or northern bluet) is a species found mainly between latitudes 40°N and 72°N; It is widely distributed in the Palearctic, and the Nearctic species '' Enallagma annexum'' was at on ...

downy emerald The downy emerald (''Cordulia aenea'') is a species of dragonfly. It is metallic green and bronze in color, and its thorax is coated with fine hairs, hence its name. Like most other emeralds, the downy emerald has bright shiny green eyes. Adults ...

, and

red-eyed damselfly ''Erythromma najas'', the red-eyed damselfly, is a member of the Coenagrionidae family of damselfly, damselflies. Appearance The species is a small damselfly, long, predominantly black with iridescent blue markings. The male resembles blue-tai ...

are also present. In Stockholm, ''

Aeshna osiliensis The Baltic hawker (''Aeshna serrata'') is a species of hawker dragonfly A dragonfly is a flying insect belonging to the infraorder Anisoptera below the order Odonata. About 3,000 extant species of true dragonfly are known. Most are tropical ...

'' is unique to Norra Djurgården, while the large white-faced darter is protected by the EU. Spegeldammen is an important breeding ground for several species of

amphibian Amphibians are tetrapod, four-limbed and ectothermic vertebrates of the Class (biology), class Amphibia. All living amphibians belong to the group Lissamphibia. They inhabit a wide variety of habitats, with most species living within terres ...

s, including smooth newt,

great crested newt The northern crested newt, great crested newt or warty newt (''Triturus cristatus'') is a newt species native to Great Britain, northern and central continental Europe and parts of Western Siberia. It is a large newt, with females growing up to ...

common frog The common frog or grass frog (''Rana temporaria''), also known as the European common frog, European common brown frog, European grass frog, European Holarctic true frog, European pond frog or European brown frog, is a semi-aquatic amphibian o ...

, and

common toad The common toad, European toad, or in Anglophone parts of Europe, simply the toad (''Bufo bufo'', from Latin ''bufo'' "toad"), is a frog found throughout most of Europe (with the exception of Ireland, Iceland, and some Mediterranean islands), in ...

, and several ponds have been created solely for promoting the precondition for breeding amphibians.

Grass snake The grass snake (''Natrix natrix''), sometimes called the ringed snake or water snake, is a Eurasian non-venomous colubrid snake. It is often found near water and feeds almost exclusively on amphibians. Subspecies Many subspecies are recogniz ...

s are also found both in the lake and in the surrounding area. The

crucian carp The crucian carp (''Carassius carassius'') is a medium-sized member of the common carp family Cyprinidae. It occurs widely in northern European regions. Its name derives from the Low German ''karusse'' or ''karutze'', possibly from Medieval Lat ...

is naturally present in the lake, while

trout Trout are species of freshwater fish belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', ''Salmo'' and ''Salvelinus'', all of the subfamily Salmoninae of the family Salmonidae. The word ''trout'' is also used as part of the name of some non-salmoni ...

and

rainbow trout The rainbow trout (''Oncorhynchus mykiss'') is a species of trout native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. The steelhead (sometimes called "steelhead trout") is an anadromous (sea-run) form of the coasta ...

have been introduced for angling. Notwithstanding the limited scale of the lake a large number of birds are regularly found here, including

little grebe The little grebe (''Tachybaptus ruficollis''), also known as dabchick, is a member of the grebe family of water birds. The genus name is from Ancient Greek ''takhus'' "fast" and ''bapto'' "to sink under". The specific ''ruficollis'' is from Latin ...

little ringed plover The little ringed plover (''Charadrius dubius'') is a small plover. The genus name ''Charadrius'' is a Late Latin word for a yellowish bird mentioned in the fourth-century Vulgate. It derives from Ancient Greek ''kharadrios'' a bird found in river ...

, and

common moorhen The common moorhen (''Gallinula chloropus''), also known as the waterhen or swamp chicken, is a bird species in the rail family (Rallidae). It is distributed across many parts of the Old World. The common moorhen lives around well-vegetated mars ...

. Additionally, the area is one of the best locales for

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 in Stockholm.

Visiting

The lake and the national park is easily accessible by metro, bus, bicycle or by foot. The nearest metro station is Universitetet.

Notes

References

External links

* {{cite web , url = http://www.stockholmvatten.se/Stockholmvatten/Vattnets-vag/Sjovard/Sjoar-och-vattendrag/Spegeldammen/ , title = Spegeldammen , publisher = Stockholm Vatten , accessdate = 2007-05-26 , archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20070927014153/http://www.stockholmvatten.se/Stockholmvatten/Vattnets-vag/Sjovard/Sjoar-och-vattendrag/Spegeldammen/ , archivedate = 2007-09-27 Geography of Stockholm Lakes of Stockholm County Lakes in Djurgården

Catchment area

Environmental influence

Flora and fauna

Visiting

See also

Notes

References

External links