Gynge & Möckelmossen - alvar flora and resting cranes
Anyone who travels along the classic road between Resmo and Stenåsa encounters a magnificent alvar landscape. Perhaps Gynge and Mysinge alvar will be the first contact with the both barren and strange beauty of the Great Alvar.
Swing alvar
Gynge alvar has traditionally been grazed by cattle, sheep and horses. Periodically, the area has been ungrazed, but now grazing has resumed and bushes have been cleared. There is an abundant occurrence of mountain crab, small sand lily, mountain carnation, woolly buttercup and soapwort. At Gynge alvar you will find some of the most individual-rich orchid localities on Stora Alvaret. St. Peter's keys and Adam and Eve are the most common, but the rare purple helleborine also occurs.
Mysinge alvar
Mysinge alvar is well maintained through sheep work. This is how treeless most of Stora Alvaret was right up until the 1960s. The vegetation is dominated by thin soils of weathering gravel, so-called sheep fescue alvar, but there are also rocky outcrops and damp meadows. Sheep fescue and the bow fescue unique to Öland are abundant, as well as axveronica, field wood, bridal bread, and cat's foot. On the wet meadows, the Öland token belongs as well as the juniper on the dry meadows.
Möckelmossen
Möckelmossen, the largest lake in the alvar, is unique because it has never been drained. The bog holds water all year round, but the area varies greatly between autumn rain, snow melt and summer drought. In the autumn, the bog is a resting and overnight place for thousands of cranes. The bog is home to black-headed gulls, ringed plovers, redshanks, and curlews. In the winter, after a few nights of cold, Möckelmossen becomes an excellent ice skating rink. Many people are amazed that they see pike swimming under the ice.
Gynge alvar has traditionally been grazed by cattle, sheep and horses. Periodically, the area has been ungrazed, but now grazing has resumed and bushes have been cleared. There is an abundant occurrence of mountain crab, small sand lily, mountain carnation, woolly buttercup and soapwort. At Gynge alvar you will find some of the most individual-rich orchid localities on Stora Alvaret. St. Peter's keys and Adam and Eve are the most common, but the rare purple helleborine also occurs.
Mysinge alvar
Mysinge alvar is well maintained through sheep work. This is how treeless most of Stora Alvaret was right up until the 1960s. The vegetation is dominated by thin soils of weathering gravel, so-called sheep fescue alvar, but there are also rocky outcrops and damp meadows. Sheep fescue and the bow fescue unique to Öland are abundant, as well as axveronica, field wood, bridal bread, and cat's foot. On the wet meadows, the Öland token belongs as well as the juniper on the dry meadows.
Möckelmossen
Möckelmossen, the largest lake in the alvar, is unique because it has never been drained. The bog holds water all year round, but the area varies greatly between autumn rain, snow melt and summer drought. In the autumn, the bog is a resting and overnight place for thousands of cranes. The bog is home to black-headed gulls, ringed plovers, redshanks, and curlews. In the winter, after a few nights of cold, Möckelmossen becomes an excellent ice skating rink. Many people are amazed that they see pike swimming under the ice.