The stacks
Odd shapes.
Guillaume Baviere from Copenhagen, Denmark — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Guillaume Baviere from Copenhagen, Denmark — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Guillaume Baviere from Copenhagen, Denmark — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Guillaume Baviere from Copenhagen, Denmark — CC BY-SA 2.0 · ArildV — CC BY-SA 4.0
Digerhuvud is a nature reserve on the island of Fårö, just north of Gotland in the Baltic Sea, holding Sweden's largest field of limestone sea stacks, about 62 km northeast of Visby in a straight line. Locals call these pillars raukar. The stacks were shaped from limestone by erosion since the Ice Age, and in Sweden they are found only on Gotland and Fårö. The reserve has been protected as a natural monument since 1930 and runs 3.5 km from Lauterhorn and Släthällar in the south to the Helgumannen fishing village in the north, covering 113 hectares. The field holds several hundred stacks, the tallest reaching eight metres, standing on a rock shelf just below the waterline, with the sea dropping to 50–60 metres deep close offshore. The grey pillars, spotted with orange lichen, take odd shapes like faces and figures, ringed by a beach of white limestone shingle. Plants are sparse on the dry limestone, though some rare species grow here. Visitors walk the shingle beach among the stacks and head north to the old wooden fishing huts of Helgumannen. The stacks are lovely in the sunset light, and the coast is exposed to the wind, so bring a jacket.
Odd shapes.
Fishing huts.
Golden light.
Digerhuvud Nature Reserve, Fårö island, Gotland, Sweden
Sunset in summer.
A jacket; it is windy.