Åsnens Nationalpark
National park at Lake Åsnen
The national park Åsnen is located in the western part of Lake Åsnen in the north of the municipality of Tingsryd. The nearest larger town, Urshult, is about 17 kilometres from the main entrance Sunnabron of the national park.
Åsnens Nationalpark was opened in spring 2018 – as the 30th national park in Sweden. It covers an area of 1,868 hectares (18.68 square kilometres) of the almost 150 square kilometres of Lake Åsnen in the heart of Småland.
Flora & Fauna in the national park Åsnen
The national park is divided into four different landscape types. The areas with deciduous and mixed forest each account for 10%, moorland for 7% and Lake Åsnen itself for 73%. It is home to 20 different fish species, for example common perch (Perca fluviatilis), but also specimens of the rarely occurring gudgeon (Gobio gobio).
In total, there are more than 100 animal and plant species in the national park that are threatened with extinction or are protected in Sweden. These include insects, fungi but also birds such as the lesser spotted woodpecker (Dryobates minor).
Toftåsa Myr (Toftåsa moor) is located in the southern part of the national park. In addition to cloudberries (Rubus chamaemorus) and twinflowers (Linnaea borealis), even Eurasian hobbies (Falco subbuteo) can be observed hunting there.
Explore Åsnens Nationalpark
All in all there are four parking lots which are suitable as starting points for a hike. Especially in the north there are easy paths. From the main entrance Sunnabron you can reach the nature reserve Hunshult or the peninsula Bjurkärr. At the western entrance Trollberget, there is also a legendary crevice that invites you to explore. The hiking trails in Toftåsa Myr are less accessible.
Who is not afraid to go on the water should paddle with a boat or canoe to the island Bergön. It is situated in the middle of the national park and offers a circular hiking trail through the hilly landscape with primeval forest vegetation. Numerous bird reserves in the national park, but also on Bergön, are not to be entered from April 1 to July 31. For this reason, it is important not to leave the marked paths, especially during this period.
Both the cycle route Åsnen Runt and the canoe route Värendsleden lead through parts of the national park.
