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drapeau france

Saison 2023/2024

Lake Hornborga

 Clas Hermansson, Lotta Berg, Alf Karlsson
Lake Hornborga Biological Field Station
Lake Hornborgasjön Bird Observatory

Date Nombre
5/10/2023 12 000
2/10/2023 23 700
28/09/2023 24 100
25/09/2023 24 300 (record)
19/09/2023 21 380 (record)
14/09/2023 10 565
11/09/2023 8 560
07/09/2023 8 425
31/08/2023 5 710
28/08/2023 3 055
24/08/2023 3 450
21/08/2023  2 060 

Saison 2022/2023

Lake Hornborga

 Clas Hermansson, Lotta Berg, Alf Karlsson
Lake Hornborga Biological Field Station
Lake Hornborgasjön Bird Observatory

Date Nombre
15/04/2023 4 200
13/04/2023 6 300
11/04/2023 5 600
10/04/2023 5 800
9/04/2023 8 500
8/04/2023 8 300
7/04/2023 6 480
6/04/2023 6 900
5/04/2023 8 000
4/04/2023 7 400
3/04/2023 9 800
2/04/2023 12 200
1/04/2023 11 200
31/03/2023 7 000
29/03/2023 7 000
28/03/2023 7 280
27/03/2023 7 480
26/03/2023 5 380
25/03/2023 3 040
24/03/2023 2 080
23/03/2023 4 180
22/03/2023 1 545
19/03/2023 910
17/03/2023 739
16/03/2023 232
   
20/10/2022 0
13/10/2022 2 740
11/10/2022 2 282
22/09/2022 16 340
19/09/2022 16 190
15/09/2022 11 220
12/09/2022 11 080
8/09/2022 8 475
5/09/2022 8 675
1/09/2022 4 940
25/08/2022 3 195
 22/08/2022  1 555

Information: Göran Lundin
Swedish Crane Working Group

Lake Hornborga is located in the southwest of Sweden between the 2 largest lakes in Europe, Vättern and Vänern and between 3 large urban cities Falköping, Skara and Skövde.
It is about 150 hectares of wetland.

This lake has been well known in Sweden since the end of the 1950s. It has been more or less drained to make arable land. The other reason for this drying up was also the arrival of the Common Cranes from April each year.
There were then large distillation factories which made liquor from potatoes. In the spring, cranes would feed on the remains of potato fields left after harvest.
Tourism around the Cranes began with a sort of "Safari Crane" during the 1950s.
At present, there are no more potato crops and the 12,000 cranes that frequent the site are fed by the Environment Agency which supplies them with around 2 tonnes of barley every day in April. . It is estimated that around 180,000 visitors come in each “Cranes” period.
During the 90s, the lake was restored: the water level was raised by about 80 cm. In addition, a lot of work has been done to eliminate vegetation (mainly Phragmites) and forests near the shore.

 

The Hornborga lake is a renowned ornithological site in northern Europe: it hosts many nesting birds (110 species) but also many parked water birds. It is one of the few rare sites where the 5 European species of grebes nest.

There are 2 information offices: one for the lake and one more specifically focused on Common Cranes. This one is located to the south of the lake and is open during the Cranes season and during certain winter weekends (we can then observe the Bald eagles feeding in the surroundings of the lake).

Cranes are counted in the fall and spring. Since 1996, the counts have been carried out at the end of the day when the cranes return to the lake to spend the night there. They are carried out by volunteers from the ornithological station.

Doctor PO Swanberg, who died in May 2001 at the age of 93, played an important role in the preservation of Lake Hornborga and in improving knowledge about Common Cranes.

Additional Information:
At www.sofnet.org you will find more information about The Swedish Crane Study Group and Lake Hornborga. You will be able to consult the figures of the counts of the last 10 years there