Färnebofjärden National Park and Uppsala County’s nature reserves

Water shapes the county

Uppsala County reaches from the lowlands around Lake Mälaren to the Lower Dalälven and the Uppland coast. Water links many of its clearest landscapes. Rivers and lakes meet low wetlands, while continuing land uplift changes the shallow bays along the Baltic shore.

At Färnebofjärden, changing river levels create rapids, lakes, floodplains and swamp forest. The national park extends across four counties and includes more than two hundred islands and skerries. Northern and southern species meet along the biological boundary that crosses the Lower Dalälven.

Mires, a bird lake and a rising coast

Florarna contains Uppland’s largest continuous mire complex. Treeless bogs and fens, open water and old forest form a broad wetland landscape where migrating birds and black grouse become especially noticeable in spring.

Hjälstaviken is a shallow lowland lake within an old farming landscape. Grazed shore meadows and reedbeds create open water for ducks and waders, while pasture and deciduous woodland add other habitats around the lake.

Hållnäskusten records a third water-driven process. Shallow sea bays gradually become lagoons, pools and wetlands as the land rises. Calcareous bedrock, boulder-rich moraine, cliffs and coastal woodland form a mosaic that supports pool frogs, orchids and many birds.