PHOTOGRAPHY & WRITING
THE ROCKY COAST
OF HALLAND
The province or landskap of Halland forms a narrow strip along Sweden’s southwestern coast, bounded to the west by the shallow waters of the Kattegat Sea and to the east by the forested highlands of the country’s interior. Dotted with islands, Halland’s coastline ribbons around rugged promontories and peninsulas to the north while transitioning southward to a gentler mix of rocky outcrops, bays, and beaches. Shaped by a quiet blend of natural and human history, the places featured here showcase a land at once richly varied and austere, sparing and serene.
The rocks of Halland’s coast formed as early as 1.7 billion years ago along the southwestern margins of the Baltic Shield, a core of bedrock that built up much of Scandinavia. They mostly consist of granites and granitic gneisses born from the upwelling of magmas and reworking of existing rocks during regional mountain building episodes and periods of metamorphism, the final of which ended just under a billion years ago. As the earth’s crust wrinkled up, surface rocks became buried deep underground, where high temperatures and pressures melted, folded, and deformed them. Eventually, overlying lands eroded away, leaving behind a raw, undulating coastline of boulders and outcrops sculpted by glaciers and sediment-laden waters.1
Halland’s rocky coast forms a land of captivating contrasts. Rocky mounds and boulders dip into mats of grass rich in small, sun-loving flowers and herbs and bristly shags of common heather and black crowberry. Damper areas harbor cottongrass, cross-leaved heather, bog bilberry, and sweet gale. For centuries, and in places perhaps millennia, humans have grazed cattle, sheep, and other livestock along the sea. The mild coastal climate allowed for year-round grazing and, as livestock kept trees and shrubs from regrowing, heather-dominated heaths spread across the land. Farmers regularly burnt the heaths to encourage the growth of fresh grasses, herbs, and shoots. Over time, burning and grazing created a mosaic of low-growing vegetation.2
Though heaths and pastures have declined sharply since the 1800s, in select nature reserves along the coast continued grazing and burning are recreating the biological diversity of a bygone cultural landscape. Mats of greenery nestle amid humps of stone and, even in its starkness and grandeur, the coast holds a mesmerizing softness and tranquility.
SOURCES
Geology
Andersson, Jenny, Charlotte Möller, Inger Lundqvist, Mehrdad Bastani, and Ildiko Antal Lundin. 2019. Beskrivning till berggrundskartan Falkenberg (Description to the Bedrock Map Falkenberg). Geological Survey of Sweden: 17-20.
Gustavson, Karl-Olov. 2019. “Bergrunden” (Bedrock). In Kjell Georgsson et al., Hallands Flora. Svensk Botanisk Tidskrift (Swedish Botanical Journal).
Lundqvist, Inger and Leif Kero. 2008. Beskrivning till berggrundskartan 5B Varberg NO (Description to the Bedrock Map 5B Varberg NO). Geological Survey of Sweden: 5-9.
Natural Grazing and Flora
Ekstam, Urban and Nils Forshed. 2000. Svenska Naturbetesmarker: historia och ekologi (Swedish natural pastures: history and ecology). Naturvårdsverkets Förlag.
Frisk, Michael and Krister Larsson. 1999. Agrarhistoriska Landskapsanalysis över Hallands Län (Agrarian Historical Landscape Analysis of Halland County). Landskapsprojektet 1999: 7. Riksantikvarieämbetet, Informationsavdelningen/Förlag, Stockholm.
Gustavson, Karl-Olov. 1997. “Jordtäcket” (Ground Cover). In Kjell Georgsson et al., Hallands Flora. Svensk Botanisk Tidskrift (Swedish Botanical Journal).
Jordbruksverket. 2002. Naturbetesmarker: Biologisk mångfald och vegetation in odlingslandskapet (Natural pastures: Biodiversity and vegetation in the cultivated landscape).
Länsstyrelsen Hallands län. Ljunghed (Heather Heath). Information placard, Näsbokrok Nature Reserve.
Länsstyrelsen Hallands län. Värdefulla kusthedar (Valuable Coastal Heaths). Information placard, Hållsundsudde-Sönnerbergen Nature Conservation Area.
Länsstyrelsen Hallands län. 2021. “Ljunghedens historia” (The history of heather heaths). In Ljunghedar—mosaikartat skötsel gynnar en unik artmångfald: Erfarenheter från Halland (Heather heaths — mosaic management favors a unique species diversity: Experiences from Halland). 2021-09.
Tollin, Clas. 1998. Värdebeskrivning av kustområdet i Halland: Landskapshistoriskt innehåll (Value description of the coastal area in Halland: Landscape historical content). Länsstyrelsen Hallands län. 1998: 9.