SkogstrolletThe free map for exploring Sweden’s outdoors.

Near Västerås

Nature reserves near Västerås

Västerås Municipality includes parts of 24 nature reserves. Islands and shallow bays of Lake Mälaren meet an esker recording both the force of glacial water and thousands of years of human movement.

Woodland and bird habitat beside Mälaren

Björnön combines mature conifer and broadleaved woodland with open ground. Wood anemone, hepatica and cowslip spread below the trees in spring. Old limes support rare beetles known from only a few other Swedish sites. Mistletoe berries also allow mistle thrushes to remain through winter rather than migrate.

Asköviken-Tidö provides the more open counterpart. A shallow reed-fringed bay is enclosed by shore meadow, pasture and protective deciduous woodland. More than 250 bird species have been recorded. Veteran trees around Tidö carry abundant mistletoe together with fungi, lichens, mosses and insects dependent on ageing wood.

An esker made by a river below the ice

Badelundaåsen rises twenty metres above its surroundings in places. Meltwater rushed through tunnels beneath the ice sheet, rounded stones against one another and dropped gravel and sand near the retreating margin. Sun now heats exposed ground in a former gravel pit enough to sustain specialist solitary bees.

More than two hundred recorded archaeological remains lie within the reserve: graves, standing stones and hollow ways worn by repeated passage. Västerås therefore offers three overlapping depths of time: glacial deposits, a long cultural landscape and living Mälaren woodland and wetland.

Three reserves near Västerås

Asköviken-Tidö

11.8 km in a straight line from the centre

Shore meadows, deciduous woodland and more than 250 bird species
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Map of nature reserves near Västerås