The Rya Forest (Swedish: ''Rya skog'') is a

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geologic ...

Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...

, Sweden. It is located on the

Hisingen Hisingen () is the fifth-largest island of Sweden (after Gotland, Öland, Södertörn and Orust), with an area of . It is a river island, formed by the split of the Göta Älv at Bohus Fortress, Bohus, and is defined to the east and south by t ...

island, on the northern bank of the

Göta River Göta is a Swedish given name, which is the female equivalent of Göte. It may refer to: * Göta Ljungberg (1893–1955), Swedish singer * Göta Pettersson (1926–1993), Swedish gymnast Other uses * Göta, Sweden *Göta älv The (; "River ...

. It has an area of 17 hectares. Established in 1928, it is the oldest nature reserve in

Västra Götaland County Västra Götaland County () is a county or '' län'' on the western coast of Sweden. The county is the second most populous of Sweden's counties and it comprises 49 municipalities (''kommuner''). Its population of 1,616,000 amounts to 17% of S ...

. The reserve lies in the middle of a busy industrial area, close to oil refineries and the Ryaverket sewage treatment plan. In spite of that, it displays a diverse flora and fauna, typical for a marsh forest,

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 ...

being the most common tree. The age of the trees reaches 200 years, while some of the oaks are a few centuries old. Many species of

lichen A lichen ( , ) is a hybrid colony (biology), colony of algae or cyanobacteria living symbiotically among hypha, filaments of multiple fungus species, along with yeasts and bacteria embedded in the cortex or "skin", in a mutualism (biology), m ...

moss Mosses are small, non-vascular plant, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic phylum, division Bryophyta (, ) ''sensu stricto''. Bryophyta (''sensu lato'', Wilhelm Philippe Schimper, Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryo ...

es and

fungi A fungus (: fungi , , , or ; or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and mold (fungus), molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as one ...

have been found. In the spring, the meadows in the reserve are covered with blooming wood anemones. The forest houses rare insects, butterflies and beetles. With its many birds, such as the

hawfinch The hawfinch (''Coccothraustes coccothraustes'') is a passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae. It is the only extant species placed in the genus ''Coccothraustes''. Its closest living relatives are the genus '' Eophona'' of East Asia, a ...

, the

tawny owl The tawny owl (''Strix aluco''), also called the brown owl, is a stocky, medium-sized owl in the family Strigidae. It is commonly found in woodlands across Europe, as well as western Siberia, and has seven recognized subspecies. The tawny owl' ...

, and the

Eurasian woodcock The Eurasian woodcock (''Scolopax rusticola'') is a medium-small wader, wading bird found in temperate and subarctic Palearctic realm, Eurasia. It has Camouflage#Cryptic coloration in nature, cryptic camouflage to suit its woodland habitat, with ...

, it has also attracted the interest of ornithologists.

References

Protected areas established in 1928 Nature reserves in Västra Götaland County Gothenburg Hisingen Tourist attractions in Gothenburg 1928 establishments in Sweden {{VästraGötaland-geo-stub