Stora Kortorp, Naturreservat

Stora Kortorp Nature Reserve consists of an old-fashioned agricultural landscape in the middle of the large forest area south of Närkeslätten. Here, grazing animals still keep the land open, resulting in a rich and flourishing flora. There are several small lakes in the area where many frogs and salamanders like to hang out.

A species-rich oasis

The Stora Kortorp farm lies like an open eye in a large coniferous forest area. But just a hundred years ago there were far more open spots in this forest carpet. The nearby Skogaholms mill was for a long time the lifeblood of the area. Many crofters lived in the surrounding forests, supplying the mill with labor, coal and grain. Today, most of these crofts and farms have been demolished and the surrounding land replanted with coniferous forest. This is why the still open land around Stora Kortorp is particularly important to preserve. Grasslands managed through haymaking and grazing are among the most species-rich natural environments, but they are also a habitat type that is steadily declining throughout the country. Thanks to grazing sheep and cattle that have kept the old agricultural landscape open on the farm, a large number of discerning plants still thrive here today in the middle of the forest.

Landscape with a long history

The land around Kortorp has been open and cultivated for a long time. Kortorp is mentioned in historical writings from 1539 (Kornatorp). But ancient finds and other older remains in the area indicate that people have been moving around in the area for a very long time. The observant will find traces in the landscape that tell of a land use that has changed over time. Small fields that have become larger, turned into meadows that have then been used as pastures. Many of the older fields have terraced, sometimes stone-lined edges. Countless cairns and stone tips bear witness to the struggle of the past to cultivate the rocky soil. Stora Kortorp is located above the highest coastline and has therefore never been eroded by the meltwater waves of the inland ice. In the area there are also traces of older houses in the form of the foundations of a stable and a cellar.

A lot in a small area

The nature reserve consists mainly of pastures containing former fields and meadows. There is a great deal of variation, from dry areas with rocky outcrops to really wet areas. Birch is the most common tree species, but there are also aspen, rowan, willow, oxel, alder, maple, beech, holly and cherry. Well, apart from spruce and pine of course. Among the shrubs, the juniper is clearly the most common. A stream runs through the eastern pasture, and in the western pasture there are several small lakes that are popular habitats for, among other things, great crested newts. The area is home to the lesser newt as well as the common frog and field frog. The hazel snake is also known from the area, as are birds such as the woodcock, snipe, crane, cuckoo, woodpeckers and stonechats.

Specially adapted plants

On the ground, we find many typical so-called grassland species, i.e. plants that thrive particularly well or even depend on disturbances in the form of grazing and mowing, so as not to be outcompeted by other fast-growing species. These grassland plants are also specially adapted to unfertilized and nutrient-poor soils. Among the grasses and sedges, we find, among others, sedge, sedge-grass, knee-grass and millet-grass. Little bluebell, black campion, cat's-foot, bluebell, maidenhair fern and almond blossom are some of the area's flowering herbs. Among the more rare and threatened species noted in Stora Kortorp we find field gentian, haymaking and summer violet. The vegetation in the southern part of the area is influenced by the underlying basic rocks. On the rocky outcrops you will find, for example, calcareous moss, black bracken and hellebore, and at the edge of the forest other calcareous species such as witch hazel, thistle and hazel grow.