Kronören nature reserve
The Långroudden spit farthest out on the Kronören
peninsula is sure to be the first destination when visiting the
Kronören-Drivören nature reserve. From here you can
see the level Kvarken coast with Järnäs peninsula closest
to the northeast. In the opposite direction, to the southwest,
you can see how the countryside and coast slowly rise from the
sea in the northernmost portion of the High Coast. Birders also
visit Långroudden during spring, fall and winter since the
exposed position of the spit offers excellent opportunities for
viewing migrating and stationary seabirds. When the ice arrives
off the coast of Umeå and all the gulls, swans and ducks
have vanished from the silent winter landscape, Långroudden
is usually a good place for seaside bird watching as it seldom
freezes here.
Långroudden is also special because of its exposed
coast and drumlin landscape. Wind and waves, shifting sea ice,
and the inland ice have created both rock rubble fields and bare
rock shelves washed bare by waves. The shelves are marked with
glacial striation and water-filled depressions and in a rock rubble
field you can find tomtningar, traces of simple and temporary
dwellings previously used by generations of fishers. The rock
rubble fields also have compass roses.
Kronören is unique in that all five of Sweden's wild
hoofed species are found here. Moose and deer are of course natural
forest inhabitants, reindeer are here in their winter pastures,
while both red deer and fallow deer run wild after escaping from
captivity in the Nordmaling area. Meeting a reindeer bull or a
large fleeing fallow deer in Kronören's flat rock forests
is a thrilling experience, to say the least.
Kronören is also unique in another sense. It is the
only currently known Swedish habitat for the common marestail
(Hippuris tetraphylla), a maritime plant
that previously also grew in the Sladan nature reserve in Västerbotten.
The common marestail, which grows like an upright tail in the
shallow water off the shore, is found in the bay between Stor-Sandskäret
and the mainland.
Kronören is also classic white-tailed eagle country.
One of the first pairs to establish itself in Västerbotten-Ångermanland
in the 1970s since disappearing a few decades earlier, built its
nest in Kronören's expansive old forest. Today quite a large
area of old forest can be found both inside and outside the nature
reserve.
Kronören's fragmented wooded countryside is not easily
navigated. Consequently the County Administrative Board is planning
a simple hiking trail through the western portion.
Lillbådan and Storbådan in the outer portion
of Nordmalingsfjärden bay are two special islands that are
more or less completely bare. Lillbådan is a bird refuge.
Coming ashore is forbidden between 15 April and 15 August.
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