Likskär is an island in the north of the Swedish sector of the

Bay of Bothnia The Bothnian Bay or Bay of Bothnia (; ) is the northernmost part of the Gulf of Bothnia, which is in turn the northern part of the Baltic Sea. The land holding the bay is Post-glacial rebound, still rising after the weight of ice-age glaciers ha ...

in the

Kalix archipelago The Kalix archipelago () is a group of 792 Swedish islands in the north part of the Bay of Bothnia. The largest island in the Kalix archipelago is Rånön. A few of the islands have small permanent populations, but most are used only for recreatio ...

and a nature reserve that covers part of this and neighboring islands.

Island

Likskär is about southeast of the southern tip of

Rånön Rånön is an island in the northwest of the Swedish sector of the Bay of Bothnia, in the Kalix archipelago. Location Rånön is the largest island in the Kalix archipelago. It is uninhabited, but is popular with visitors in the summer. Rånö v ...

, the largest island in the archipelago. The nearest mainland port is Storön, Kalix. Likskär island is rocky, and contains an old fishing village. There is some sparse forest, but most of the island is covered with rocks. The ground cover is rich in flora and supports diverse fauna. There are many birds of different species. Likskär is relatively new, as are the other islands in the region, having formed from

post-glacial rebound Post-glacial rebound (also called isostatic rebound or crustal rebound) is the rise of land masses after the removal of the huge weight of ice sheets during the last glacial period, which had caused isostatic depression. Post-glacial rebound an ...

after the last

ice age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages, and g ...

and emerged from the sea after around 500 AD. This process continues, with the land rising by about per century. The existing islands expand and new islands slowly emerge. As the islands emerge they are battered by waves and ice forming large fields of rubble. The bedrock and the boulder beaches consist of granite with large eyes of feldspar. The water is brackish with salinity of only around 0.2%.

Nature reserve

Islands

The Likskär nature reserve, the only one in the Kalix archipelago, was established in 1969. It includes 25 islands and smaller islets, and is part of the European Union's

Natura 2000 Natura 2000 is a network of nature protection areas in the territory of the European Union. It is made up of Special Areas of Conservation and Special Protection Areas designated under the Habitats Directive and the Birds Directive, respectiv ...

network. The largest island, Getskär-Renskär, is the most visited. There are traces of old fishing villages, including simple dwellings and mounds for drying nets, and several mazes made of boulders on Likskär and Renskär. Fishermen's houses on Renskär and Likskär are now used as holiday homes. Visitors may camp in designated areas and make fires using wood that they bring. Visitors may hike, pick berries and mushrooms and fish, but hunting and snowmobiling are prohibited. During the bird breeding season of May June and July boats must not come closer than to the islands of Ligogrunnan, Splitterören, Olnisbrottet, Mellangrundsbotten and nearby islets.

Flora

The oldest islands have dense forest cover. Newer ones may have stands of

juniper Junipers are coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Juniperus'' ( ) of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on the taxonomy, between 50 and 67 species of junipers are widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere as far south ...

, meadows or bare gravel. Many of the beach plants of the Bothnian Bay are found in the nature reserve. These are hardy plants that can survive the scraping motion of the ice sheets that form in winter and advance as the ice expands, and can handle tides of brackish water that vary by up to . Away from the shore there are meadows with plants such as

eyebright ''Euphrasia'', or eyebright, is a genus of about 215 species of herbaceous flowering plants in the family Orobanchaceae (formerly included in the Scrophulariaceae), with a cosmopolitan distribution. They are hemiparasitic on grasses and other pl ...

and valerian, then shrubs like

buckthorn ''Rhamnus'' is a genus of about 140 accepted species of shrubs or small trees, commonly known as buckthorns, in the family Rhamnaceae. Its species range from tall (rarely to ) and are native mainly in east Asia and North America, but found thr ...

willow Willows, also called sallows and osiers, of the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 350 species (plus numerous hybrids) of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions. Most species are known ...

and

bog myrtle ''Myrica gale'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Myricaceae native to parts of Eurasia and North America. Common names include bog-myrtle, sweet willow, Dutch myrtle, and sweetgale. Description ''Myrica gale'' is a deciduous shrub g ...

, and then a border of

alder Alders are trees of the genus ''Alnus'' in the birch family Betulaceae. The genus includes about 35 species of monoecious trees and shrubs, a few reaching a large size, distributed throughout the north temperate zone with a few species ex ...

surrounding

spruce A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' ( ), a genus of about 40 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal ecosystem, boreal (taiga) regions of the Northern hemisphere. ''Picea'' ...

forests.

Fauna

The varied vegetation supports a variety of birds and animals.

Elk The elk (: ''elk'' or ''elks''; ''Cervus canadensis'') or wapiti, is the second largest species within the deer family, Cervidae, and one of the largest terrestrial mammals in its native range of North America and Central and East Asia. ...

are often found on Renskär-Getskär, and resident mammals include

fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...

squirrel Squirrels are members of the family Sciuridae (), a family that includes small or medium-sized rodents. The squirrel family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels (including chipmunks and prairie dogs, among others), and flying squirrel ...

, ermine and plentiful

hare Hares and jackrabbits are mammals belonging to the genus ''Lepus''. They are herbivores and live Solitary animal, solitarily or in pairs. They nest in slight depressions called forms, and their young are precociality, able to fend for themselves ...

s. The

Papilio machaon ''Papilio machaon'', the Old World swallowtail, is a butterfly of the family Papilionidae. The butterfly is also known as the common yellow swallowtail or simply the swallowtail (a common name applied to all members of the family, but this speci ...

butterfly can sometimes be seen. Characteristic birds on Renskär-Getskär include pine grosbeaks,

black grouse The black grouse (''Lyrurus tetrix''), also known as northern black grouse, Eurasian black grouse, blackgame or blackcock, is a large Aves, bird in the grouse family. It is a Bird migration, sedentary species, spanning across the Palearctic in m ...

rock ptarmigan The rock ptarmigan (''Lagopus muta'') is a medium-sized game bird in the grouse family. It is known simply as the ptarmigan in Europe. It is the official bird for the Canadian territory of Nunavut, where it is known as the ''aqiggiq'' (ᐊᕿ� ...

s and

capercaillie ''Tetrao'' is a genus of birds in the grouse subfamily known as capercaillies. They are some of the largest living grouse. Feathers from the bird were used to create the characteristic hat of the bersaglieri, an Italian ace infantry formation. ...

s. Likskär is relatively barren, but at Hedmarkerna there are

willow ptarmigan The willow ptarmigan ( ); ''Lagopus lagopus'') or willow grouse is a bird in the grouse subfamily Tetraoninae of the pheasant family Phasianidae. It is also known colloquially as awebo bird. The willow ptarmigan breeds in birch and other forests ...

wheatear The wheatears are passerine birds of the genus ''Oenanthe''. They were formerly considered to be members of the thrush family, Turdidae, but are now more commonly placed in the flycatcher family, Muscicapidae. This is an Old World group, but ...

Temminck's stint Temminck's stint (''Calidris temminckii'') is a small wader. This bird's common name and Latin binomial commemorate the Dutch naturalist Coenraad Jacob Temminck. The genus name is from Ancient Greek ''kalidris'' or ''skalidris'', a term used by ...

s and

turnstone Turnstones are two bird species that constitute the genus ''Arenaria'' in the family Scolopacidae. They are closely related to calidrid sandpipers and might be considered members of the tribe Calidriini. The genus ''Arenaria'' was introduced b ...

Herring gull Herring gull is a common name for several birds in the genus ''Larus'', all formerly treated as a single species. Three species are still combined in some taxonomies: * American herring gull (''Larus smithsonianus'') - North America * European h ...

tern Terns are seabirds in the family Laridae, subfamily Sterninae, that have a worldwide distribution and are normally found near the sea, rivers, or wetlands. Terns are treated in eleven genera in a subgroup of the family Laridae, which also ...

guillemot Guillemot is the common name for several species of seabird in the Alcidae or auk family, part of the order Charadriiformes. In Europe, the term covers two genera, '' Uria'' and '' Cepphus''. In North America the ''Uria'' species are called mu ...

s and

ruddy turnstone The ruddy turnstone (''Arenaria interpres'') is a small Cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan wader, wading bird, one of two species of turnstone in the genus ''Arenaria''. It is now classified in the sandpiper family Scolopacidae but was form ...

s nest on Likskärsrevet and Ligogrunnan, and there are

spotted redshank The spotted redshank (''Tringa erythropus'') is a wader (shorebird) in the large bird family Scolopacidae. The genus name ''Tringa'' is the Neo-Latin name given to the green sandpiper by Aldrovandus in 1599 based on Ancient Greek ''trungas'', a ...

s on the smaller islands.

References

Citations Sources * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Likskar Swedish islands in the Baltic Islands of Norrbotten County Kalix Municipality