Stiby Backe Naturreservat
Nature reserve near Hällevik
The nature reserve Stiby Backe Naturreservat is located between the settlement Stiby and the fishing village Hällevik. It covers the 70 m high hill Stiby Backe and the adjoining area.
Stiby Backe is one of the primeval granite massifs on the Listerland peninsula, which were once islands and cut down by ice-age glaciers. From its top you have a very beautiful view over the sea in southern direction and over the hillside of Listershuvud as well as the island Hanö.
The terrain of the 123 hectare nature reserve is very diverse and therefore home to a varied flora and fauna. The top part of the hill is relatively dry and you can find pasque flower, Breckland thyme, small hawkweed and Galium.
By the elevation after the melting of the glaciers, terraces have formed on the east side of the hill. The soil is nutrient-rich and densely wooded with beeches and hornbeams. In the spring, the forest floor consists of a flowering sea of violets, anemones and yellow star-of-Bethlehem.
The bird population in the nature reserve is varied and consists predominantly of smaller birds and songbirds such as sparrows, nightingales or woodlark.
Traces of early settlement are found, like bronze-age grave mounds near the summit of the hill or the menhir Stiby Sissa in the west of the nature reserve. In the southern part of the area, not far from Hällevik, there is an old cholera cemetery. 50 victims of the epidemic, which raged on Listerland in 1853, are buried there.
