Nature

At Agusa camp site you have a view over the wildlife enclosure, and even from the outside, the odds are high that you can see wild boar and red deer. Heading north, you follow a path over the esker known as Jären, the largest in eastern Skåne, through tall beech woodland. As you near Hörröd, giant oaks grow on the ridge, prime real estate for insects and birds. These century old oaks constitute a key woodland habitat and are critical for conservation of biological diversity.

East of the village you step into a pasture with juniper bushes and exciting flora that gives you a feel for how the Linderödsåsen Ridge looked one hundred years ago. Small roads and boardwalks lead you to the pasture of Äskebjär. Among the juniper bushes and grazing cows, you can find breckland thyme, meadow saxifrage, and several different orchids. And then onward to the grazed hills of the Drakamöllan nature reserve, with its dwarf everlasting and dwarf pasqueflower. Exclusive birds such as the golden oriole, and the tree and tawny pipits thrive here.

Forestry tracks carry you into Maglehems Ora Nature Reserve, home to one of the largest beech woodlands growing on nutritionally poor moraine soil in the country. Before this long, narrow stretch of land became a nature reserve, it was primarily covered by pine cultivation. Slowly the pine is being replaced with a high, natural moor vegetation which will serve as a speciation corridor to tie together the two other nature reserves which it connects. Thus, the risk for extinction of rare and threatened heathland species declines.

Cultural History

Agusa is a truly antiquated village, nestled in thick forest, with stone walls and several, well-preserved buildings, including Agusastugan, an old half-timbered cottage with a thatched roof – typical for Skåne. Anna Mårtensson lived here until 1944, and she left the cottage in the same condition as it was when she moved in. It is currently owned and maintained by the Albo Härads Local Historical Society and is open to the public.

The village of Hörröd is medieval in origin, but the current church building is young, built in the mid-1800s. On the hill, just east of the church is an abandoned cemetery and walls from the much older church, built in the 1400s. The original church was torn down once the decision to build a new church was taken, and a peaceful site was chosen. Unfortunately, the local trolls had other ideas and every night they moved the building materials to their preferred location. Eventually the trolls prevailed, but to prevent any further supernatural shenanigans, a live rooster was buried, arguably the last time the pagan rite was used by the Swedish church. 

High on a hill in Äskebjär next to the trail is a Bronze Age burial mound. And to the south is the Drakamöllan Nature Reserve, named for Drake the miller, whose mill was located on the Julebodaån River. This rural landscape is ancient, and grazing was combined with agriculture. After perhaps ten years of grazing, the fields were then ploughed and sown, and the process repeated. At Maglehems Ora pigs were grazed, often brought in from quite far away, so they could fatten up on the beechnuts that fell to the woodland floor.