Kålhuvudet or the Kålhuvudets Nature Reserve is situated in

Örnsköldsvik Municipality Örnsköldsvik Municipality (; ) is one of Sweden's 290 Municipalities of Sweden, municipalities, in Västernorrland County in northern Sweden. Its seat is in the town Örnsköldsvik. The present municipality was created in 1971 by the amalgamati ...

, in Björna parish of

Västernorrland County Västernorrland County () is a county ('' län'') in the north of Sweden. It is bordered by the counties of Gävleborg, Jämtland, Västerbotten and the Gulf of Bothnia. The name ''Västernorrland'' means "Western Norrland", as it was in the ...

in northern

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. It is located 7 km southwest of Hemling and covers 770 hectares. The reserve was founded in 1993 and is a protected

old-growth An old-growth forest or primary forest is a forest that has developed over a long period of time without Disturbance (ecology), disturbance. Due to this, old-growth forests exhibit unique ecological features. The Food and Agriculture Organizati ...

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'' ...

forest interspersed with sloped

wetland A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...

areas more typical to mountainous regions. Located at 510 meters above sea level, the area is subject to high levels of snowfall and many of the trees have experienced damage from the snows. The area was protected to allow the ecosystem to freely develop. Several varieties of spiders, including the conical wheel

orb-weaver spider Orb-weaver spiders are members of the spider family Araneidae. They are the most common group of builders of spiral wheel-shaped webs often found in gardens, fields, and forests. The English word "orb" can mean "circular", hence the English name ...

and the

long-jawed orb weaver Long-jawed orb weavers or long jawed spiders (Tetragnathidae) are a family of araneomorph spiders first described by Anton Menge in 1866. They have elongated bodies, legs, and chelicerae, and build small orb webs with an open hub with few, wide- ...

spider have been found amid the spruce trees. The

Black woodpecker The black woodpecker (''Dryocopus martius'') is a large woodpecker that lives in mature forests across the northern Palearctic. It is the sole representative of its genus in that region. Its range is expanding. The black woodpecker is easily the ...

Eurasian three-toed woodpecker The Eurasian three-toed woodpecker (''Picoides tridactylus'') is a medium-sized woodpecker that is found from northern Europe across northern Asia to Japan. Taxonomy The Eurasian three-toed woodpecker was formally described in 1758 by the Swedi ...

Siberian jay The Siberian jay (''Perisoreus infaustus'') is a small jay with a widespread distribution within the coniferous forests in North Eurasia. It has grey-brown plumage with a darker brown crown and a paler throat. It is rusty-red in a panel near the ...

and western capercaillie are among the various bird species found in the forest. Among the types of flora found are shrub-like

birch A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech- oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains 3 ...

; flowering ''

Cicerbita alpina ''Cicerbita alpina'', commonly known as the alpine sow-thistle or alpine blue-sow-thistle is a perennial herbaceous species of plant sometimes placed in the genus ''Cicerbita'' of the family Asteraceae, and sometimes placed in the genus ''Lactuca ...

'' and ''

Listera cordata ''Neottia cordata'', the lesser twayblade or heartleaf twayblade, is an orchid of upland bogs and mires that rarely exceeds in height. It was formerly placed in the genus '' Listera'', but molecular phylogenetic studies have shown that ''Neott ...

''; various

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 ...

s; and the rare or endangered mosses ''

Anastrophyllum hellerianum ''Anastrophyllum hellerianum'' is a species of liverwort belonging to the family Anastrophyllaceae Anastrophyllaceae is a family of liverworts belonging to the order Jungermanniales Jungermanniales is the largest Order (biology), order of M ...

'', ''

Lophozia longidens ''Lophozia longidens'' is a species of liverwort belonging to the family Lophoziaceae Lophoziaceae is a family of liverworts belonging to the order Jungermanniales. Included genera: *'' Andrewsianthus'' R.M.Schust. *'' Gerhildiella'' Grolle * ...

'' and ''

Calypogeia suecica ''Calypogeia suecica'' is a species of liverwort belonging to the family Calypogeiaceae Calypogeiaceae is a family of liverworts. This type of plant is a calcifuge A calcifuge is a plant that does not tolerate alkaline (basic) soil. The wo ...

''. There are also numerous types of fungi which are characteristically found in decaying spruce forests, such as ''

Amylocystis lapponicus ''Amylocystis lapponica'' (alternatively spelled ''Amylocystis lapponicus'') is a species of bracket fungus in the family Fomitopsidaceae, and the type species of genus '' Amylocystis''. It produces medium-sized, annual fruit bodies that are soft ...

'', ''

Fomitopsis rosea ''Rhodofomes roseus'' is a species of pink polypore found in western North America and Europe. This is a close relative of another species of pink conk, the rosy conk ('' Rhodofomes cajanderi).'' While ''R. cajanderi'' is a plant pathogen, ''R. r ...

'', ''

Laurilia sulcata ''Laurilia sulcata'' is a species of fungus belonging to the family Echinodontiaceae The Echinodontiaceae are a family of crust fungi in the order Russulales. Species of this family, divided amongst two genera—'' Echinodontium'' and '' Lauri ...

'', ''

Phellinidium ferrugineofuscum ''Phellinidium ferrugineofuscum'' is a species of fungus belonging to the family Hymenochaetaceae. It has been found growing on ''Abies sibirica ''Abies sibirica'', the Siberian fir, is a coniferous evergreen tree native to the taiga east of ...

'', ''

Phellopilus nigrolimitatus ''Phellopilus'' is a fungal genus in the family Hymenochaetaceae. Circumscribed in 2001, the genus is monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic spe ...

'', ''

Phlebia mellea ''Phlebia centrifuga'' is a species of crust fungus in the family Meruliaceae. It was described in 1881 by Petter Karsten Petter Adolf Karsten (16 February 1834 – 22 March 1917) was a Finnish mycologist, the foremost expert on the fungi o ...

'' and ''

Skeletocutis odora ''Skeletocutis odora'' is a species of fungus 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 ...

''. There is one small cabin with two bunk beds in the reserve. It has a heating unit and a drinking spring lies approximately 100 meters south of the cabin.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kalhuvudet Nature reserves in Sweden Örnsköldsvik Municipality