The nature reserve Digerhuvud stretches along Fårö's northwest coast, from Lauterhorn in the southwest to Helgumannen's fishing village in the northeast. A paved road runs through the reserve which makes the different parts of the area easy to reach. Occasionally there may be many visitors here, but the area's rauks are enough for everyone - you can always find your own rauk to climb, examine or rest your back against.

Raukarna varies in height from a few meters up to 8 meters. The outermost rauks stand a bit out in the water and are still being processed by the waves of the sea. Inside the rauk field runs a low cliff, and inside this spreads a cobblestone field up to 200 meters wide which has almost no vegetation at all. Even further in, a low-growing forest of windswept beach pines takes over.

How the rauks have been formed
The Gotland bedrock is largely made up of coral reefs that formed in a tropical sea about 430 million years ago, during the Silurian period. Between these fossil reefs are packs of stored limestone and muddy marl. After the last ice age, just over 10,000 years ago, Gotland was initially completely covered by water. Freed from the weight of the ice masses, however, the land gradually rose above sea level. Where land and sea met, the waves could process the bedrock. The reef bodies themselves withstood the abrasion of the waves better than the surrounding stratified rocks, and when the water receded they could remain as isolated stone pillars - rauks. The Raukarna thus consist of hard, unstored limestone and are remnants of the ancient reefs that came to give rise to today's Gotland. Both the reef limestone and the stored limestone are rich in fossils of the many different kinds of animals that lived on and near the reefs: stromatoporoids, corals, snails, octopuses, mosses, armadillos and sea lilies.

Regulations

For everyone's well-being and in order to maintain the reserve's natural and cultural values, it is important that all visitors show consideration. In addition to the right of public access, it is not permitted to:

• destroy or damage solid natural objects or surface formation by, for example, tapping fossils from rauks or other solid rock,
• break twigs, fell or otherwise damage living or dead trees or shrubs,
• make a fire other than at a designated place,
• bring an unlinked dog, with the exception of the period 1 November - 31 January,
• drive a motor vehicle other than on designated roads,
• park other than in specially designated places,
• pitch a tent or set up a caravan or trailer
• affix a painting, poster, poster, sign, inscription or similar device.

Source: Gotland County Administrative Board - 2022-01-20

Access: BBQ areas, picnic tables and toilets