The wetlands - an ornithological paradise

Swamps, swampforests, peat bogs and other wet-wetlands cover more than one fifth of the country's surface area. Most of them are to be found in the far north of Sweden.

The greatest wealth of species may be found in the swamp forests, which are incredibly varied, but often as difficult as any jungle to get through. The greatest dearth of species occurs in the peat bogs and certain swamps which were condemned as hell on earth by the Swedish King of the Flowers, Carl Linneus (1707-1778). One reason for his harsh words may well lie in the fact that he had no rubber boots with him on his expedition to Lapland, another could well be the dense clouds of blood-thirsty mosquitos that make the sun doubly unbearable in the swamps.

For certain people, even the swamps have their fascination. Many of them host a rich bird life. Here the magnificent ruff may be studied, and you may catch a glimpse of the crane. The jack snipe, the broadbilled sandpiper, and the bean goose all nest exclusively in this habitat.

Sweden is still among the ten countries in the world with the greatest wealth of wetlands, even though large areas have been drained for use as agricultural land. From the 19th century to the 1930s, more than half of the lakes and marshes of southern Sweden disappeared as a result of draining. Nowadays wetlands are being restored and even in some cases created anew in the south in order to rescue threatened species of frogs, newts and waterfowl.

The most successful example of this is Lake Hornborgasjon in the province of Vastergotland, which after ten years' work and the investment of 70 million Swedish kronor has once again become one of the most spectacular bird sanctuaries in Europe. Hundreds of thousands of people visit Lake Hornborgasjon every year to study its rich bird life. The high point of the year is in April when thousands of cranes touch down in the fields around it to feast on frozen potatoes before continuing on their journey to the northern swamps.