Naturarvet signed a contract on Ekås oak-beech forest in Gällared parish in Falkenberg municipality, Halland, in September 2023 and is awaiting a decision on land registration. The 25 ha property is located at about 150 m above sea level and is well connected with a small part of Stora tjärnet in the north and good accessibility via public roads and a common road passing through the southern part.

17 ha of the area is older deciduous forest, and is a small secondary remnant of the previously dominant deciduous oak and beech forest that is typical of the nemoral zone in southern Sweden. Throughout the property there are traces of the agricultural landscape, which has largely been cultivated arable land and pastures. Stone fences, stone cairns, old roads, a flax bank and other structures are reminders of past times, where nature has now reclaimed the land.

We are humbly grateful that this property was for sale and that we had previously received several substantial gifts that made it possible to acquire the property.

Ekås oak-beech forest is located in a village with largely traditional tract logging and planted spruce - as an isolated hotspot for high nature values. The property contains older secondary natural deciduous forest dominated by beech in the eastern part and more oak mixed forest in the western part. In the south there is a somewhat younger naturally established deciduous mixed forest with elements of ash and aspen. At the northern end of the property there are partly planted spruce and birch without biological values and partly a pine bog with fine natural values. There is also a small proportion of older mixed spruce forest that may eventually develop fine natural values. In the western part and in a centrally located meadow, the land has been grazed for a long time, which has laid the foundation for natural values that benefit from continued grazing.

The increasing amount of dead standing and lying wood, the growing number of old trees and the varying nutrient content of the soil give the forest a good range of species and tree populations. Particularly important environments include: 1. mixed oak forest with elements of hazel groves and other deciduous trees such as ash, lime and maple; 2. open pastures that have been managed with grazing for a long time, as well as parts of the oak forest; 3. natural beech forest with clear traces of previous grazing and arable farming through remnants of fences and cairns, and here and there oaks that are pushed back by the beech trees; 4. open marshland and swamp forest areas that can develop into fine natural values after some restoration of the wetland; 5. older mixed spruce forest by the lake, with an original province of spruces.

No previous documentation of species existed on the property and Naturarvets GM and administrators from the County Administrative Board of Halland County have made an inventory of species during the summer and fall of 2023. Here is a selection of species found:

• Greater butterfly orchid Platanthera chlorantha Signal species
• Small-leaved lime Tilia cordata LC
• Ash Fraxinus excelsior EN
• Red fox Vulpes vulpes LC
• Common swift Apus apusEN
• Green woodpecker Picus viridis LC
• Black woodpecker Dryocopus martiusNT
• House Martin Delichon urbicum VU
• Wren Troglodytes troglodytes LC
• Nuthatch Sitta europaea LC
• Sneaky fly agaric Armanita phalloides Signal species
• Western hook moss Rhytidiadelphus loreus Signal species