Rastadammarna

A popular wetland area for hiking and bird watching

On the outskirts of Gislaved there is an established wetland called Rastadammarna. The wetland is currently 18 hectares and holds almost 200,000 cubic metres of water. The water depth ranges from 0.6 metres to 2.5 metres. There is a rich bird life here that attracts many birdwatchers.

Among the breeding birds are the whooper swan, gadwall, northern shoveler, tufted duck, little grebe, horned grebe, common moorhen, coot, little ringed plover, common redshank, wood sandpiper, black-headed gull, grey wagtail and reed warbler. Some 30 breeding species are directly related to the wetland biotope.

Roosting birds include a lot of waders that stop over on their way to and from their northern nesting sites, such as Temminck's stint, curlew sandpiper, dunlin, ruff, spotted redshank, common greenshank, sanderling and red-necked phalarope. In total, more than 170 different bird species have been observed in the wetland and in the surrounding area. Rare guests include ring-necked duck, Egyptian goose, Mediterranean gull, gull-billed tern, citrine wagtail, horned lark and European serin.

The wetland area has also become a very popular hiking area thanks to the 3 kilometre hiking trail that runs through the wetland. Along the walking trail there are two barbecue areas.