- Where
- Southern cape of Öland,
Kalmar County, Sweden - Coordinates
- 56.20° N
16.40° E (Långe Jan, approx.) - Nature reserve
- Established 1970;
995 ha, 95 ha of it water - Birds
- About 270 species in a normal year
(Kalmar County Administrative Board) - Bird observatory
- Ringing since 1946
(Swedish Ornithological Society) - Best visited
- April–May and August–October
for migration (the board) - Advisory
- Sweden Level 2
(terrorism)
The road south ran past little wooden windmills and long stone walls, until the island narrowed to a grazed green point with a tall pale lighthouse at the end and seals lying about on the rocks beyond. Every bird that reached the tip seemed to stop and consider the sea. The small ones hesitated in the bushes. The geese did not. I stood with the hesitators for some time.
The short answer
Ottenby is the nature reserve at the southern cape of Öland, the long Baltic island off Sweden’s south-east coast, and the Kalmar County Administrative Board, the reserve’s authority, calls the cape one of Sweden’s best places for birds. Established in 1970, the reserve covers 995 hectares, 95 of them water, and is one of the largest in Kalmar County; it is part of the EU’s Natura 2000 network and of the World Heritage site of the Agricultural Landscape of Southern Öland. At the lighthouse village on the cape, the Swedish Ornithological Society runs the Ottenby Bird Observatory, where, the board says, thousands of birds are ringed every year and research on influenza goes on. Beside it stand Långe Jan, at 42 metres the tallest lighthouse in Sweden, and naturum Ottenby, one of Sweden’s 32 naturum visitor centres. Inland lie wide grazed shore meadows and Ottenby lund, an old royal woodland of oak and birch.
Why it's worth knowing
The last stop before the horizon. The board’s visitor folder explains why the birds come. Most land birds hesitate before leaving a shore out of sight; crossing the Kalmar Strait is no problem, but after it many fly along Öland for as long as they can, to the southern cape. Birds in two minds about the open sea gather there, the folder says, and so do seabirds that do not want to fly over land, many of them following a flyway from northern Russia to western Europe that passes the island. In spring, for birds returning across the Baltic, Ottenby is often the first land in sight. Migrants can be seen almost all year, the folder says, though the airspace is busiest in April and May and from August to October; naturum Ottenby adds that the autumn passage is the richest, when on clear days huge flocks of everything from geese to pigeons head out over open sea from the cape. Waders from the Russian tundra stop on the shore meadows, and one of Sweden’s largest colonies of pied avocets nests on a sandbank east of the Schäferiängarna meadows.
A landscape kept open by grazing. Farmers have cut and grazed these meadows for thousands of years, the board says, and that unbroken management is the reason for the World Heritage listing. In 1544 King Gustav Vasa had the village of Ottenby demolished to make way for a royal estate, and his son Johan III brought fallow deer to Ottenby in 1569; their descendants live here still, and the present king, Carl XVI Gustaf, holds the hunting rights. Karl XI had a wall built round the grove of Ottenby lund in the 1690s to keep grazing cattle out. Today the royal estate, Ottenby kungsård, manages most of the reserve, and its cattle and sheep keep the land open; the board warns that the birds and plants adapted to the open meadows would disappear if they grew over. The corncrake, once well known in the tall hay of the Schäferiängarna, is now seldom heard on summer nights, the board says, while the southern dunlin still breeds on the well-grazed shore meadows.
The field notes
The bird observatory
Ottenby Bird Observatory opened in 1946, and the board’s folder says its ringing scheme is the oldest uninterrupted one in the world. Its figures for a year vary by source: the board says thousands of birds are ringed each year, naturum Ottenby’s English page gives about 20,000 and its Swedish page about 25,000. The observatory is part of Sweden’s environmental monitoring, recording how bird populations rise and fall, and studies influenza viruses, which the folder notes occur naturally among ducks, geese, swans and other waterbirds. The observatory and its garden are closed to visitors, but guided ringing tours can be booked through naturum.
Långe Jan
For a long time, the folder says, sailors rounding the cape steered by a large hawthorn tree, and in the late seventeenth century a beacon was put up: an iron basket of burning coal hoisted on a pole. It gave little light, and the islanders did not complain, because looting wrecks was an important supplement to their income. Despite local protests, a lighthouse replaced it, built with stone from the decaying chapel of Saint John and named Långe Jan, Jan being short for Johannes. It was first lit in November 1785. The board gives its height as 42 metres, the tallest in Sweden, and 197 steps lead to the top.
Oaks, orioles and seals
The oldest oaks in Ottenby lund are more than 400 years old with trunks over four metres round, the board says, and they carry rare lichens; one, Opegrapha lyncea, is known in all of Sweden from a single oak here. The golden oriole arrives in the last week of May, the folder says, and in May the wood rings with a bird chorus that includes the collared flycatcher; the board names the red-breasted flycatcher as well, and the barred warbler on the Skogsudden. Fallow deer are easiest to see in autumn and winter along the trail round Ottenby lund, the board says. Offshore, the neighbouring Ottenby rev reserve holds one of the four harbour seal colonies in the Baltic Proper, and grey seals are common; naturum says white-tailed eagles are especially numerous at the cape in winter.
May 2022Sheep grazing the shore meadow in Ottenby Nature Reserve.
Photograph: Sinikka Halme · CC BY-SA 4.0
May 2022A Heligoland trap for ringing birds at Ottenby Bird Observatory.
Photograph: Sinikka Halme · CC BY-SA 4.0 · cropped
September 2015The road south across the open grassland towards Ottenby Bird Observatory and Långe Jan.
Photograph: Kevin Cho · CC BY-SA 4.0 · cropped
- Get to the very end of the island early, stand still, and let the morning arrive from the sea.
- Climb the lighthouse and count the steps on the way up. (Lost count twice. Started a separate list just for the steps. It is now longer than this one.)
- The meadows are a working farm, and the cows and sheep are on duty. Close every gate, and keep to the marked paths while the birds are nesting.
- Ask nicely to watch a bird being ringed, then thank the bird as well as the ringer.
- Walk in the old oak wood in late spring and listen for a bird that sounds like somebody practising the flute. (Did not see it once. It sounded pleased about that.)
Långe Jan, the lighthouse at Öland’s southern cape. The Kalmar County Administrative Board’s folder tells how a coal beacon on a pole lit the cape from the late seventeenth century, how islanders were in no hurry for a better light because looting wrecks supplemented their income, and how, despite local protests, a lighthouse was built with stone from the decaying chapel of Saint John and named Långe Jan, Jan being short for Johannes. It was first lit in November 1785. At 42 metres, the board says, it is the tallest lighthouse in Sweden, and 197 steps lead to the top.
Tally, in the marginA lighthouse, which I admired for most of an hour purely as a lighthouse. It was only on the long way back down the stairs that the stones began to feel rather like a church to me, and I finished the descent on tiptoe without quite knowing why.
Getting there
How to get there. Kalmar Öland Airport, on the mainland, has daily domestic flights to and from Stockholm, its website says. The board’s folder gives the way to the reserve as simply going as far south on Öland as you can. There are large car parks at the cape and at the royal estate, and two more, Södra and Norra lundparkeringen, by the woodland; overnight stays in the car parks or the reserve are not allowed.
When to go. The folder says migrants can be seen almost all year, with the busiest skies in April and May and from August to October; the golden oriole arrives in the last week of May; white-tailed eagles are numerous in winter, naturum says, and fallow deer are easiest to see in autumn and winter.
What to arrange ahead. Naturum Ottenby’s 2026 season runs to 31 October, daily from 11:00 to 16:00 in the autumn half-term week, with seasonal hours from Easter; the lighthouse admits climbers on the hour from 11:00 to 16:00 in the same week. Naturum offers a free 15-minute introduction in English with no booking, guided tours, behind-the-scenes ringing visits to the observatory, and binoculars to borrow.
Access. The board lists an accessible toilet at naturum, a disabled parking space and a bronze model at the Saint John’s chapel ruin, and level gravel roads in Ottenby lund usable by wheelchair users with a companion; it describes the 1.5-kilometre Skogsuddeslingan nature trail, mostly gravel-surfaced, as passable with a walker, a wheelchair with a companion or a pram. The reserve’s rules: the right of public access does not fully apply; marked areas are closed from 1 April to 31 August and others from 1 April to 15 November, and the land along Fyrvägen is closed off the path from 1 April to 15 July for nesting birds; during hunting, shown on signs, only the marked routes may be used; dogs must be on a lead all year; drones are banned because they disturb the birds; camping, fires and picking plants are not allowed.
Safety. The US State Department has Sweden at Level 2, exercise increased caution, due to terrorism (advisory dated 18 May 2026). The board notes that in spring and early summer cows with calves can be very protective and see dogs as a threat, and asks visitors not to take dogs into the pastures then.
Mark this place
Common questions
Why is Ottenby good for birdwatching?
Ottenby sits at the southern cape of Öland in Sweden, where birds that follow the island south gather before the open Baltic, and where returning birds first make landfall in spring. The Kalmar County Administrative Board calls it one of Sweden’s top bird sites, with about 270 species seen in a normal year.
When is the best time to see bird migration at Ottenby?
The Kalmar County Administrative Board says migrants can be seen at Ottenby on Öland almost all year, but the skies are busiest in April and May and from August to October. Naturum Ottenby calls the autumn passage the richest, with huge flocks heading out over the sea on clear days.
Can you visit Ottenby Bird Observatory?
Ottenby Bird Observatory on Öland, run by the Swedish Ornithological Society since 1946, is closed to visitors who arrive on their own, the Kalmar County Administrative Board says. Guided tours that show its bird ringing can be booked through naturum Ottenby, the visitor centre next door.
How tall is the Långe Jan lighthouse?
Långe Jan, the lighthouse at the southern cape of Öland in Sweden, is 42 metres tall, the tallest in Sweden by the Kalmar County Administrative Board’s account, and 197 steps lead to the top. It was built with stone from a ruined chapel and first lit in November 1785.
Are parts of Ottenby Nature Reserve closed in the breeding season?
Yes. In Ottenby Nature Reserve on Öland, marked areas are closed from 1 April to 31 August and others from 1 April to 15 November, and the land along Fyrvägen is closed off the path from 1 April to 15 July for nesting birds, the Kalmar County Administrative Board says.
What is naturum Ottenby?
Naturum Ottenby is the visitor centre at the southern cape of Öland, one of Sweden’s 32 naturum. It has exhibitions on Ottenby’s nature and the bird observatory’s ringing, guided tours including a free 15-minute introduction in English, and binoculars to borrow; its 2026 season runs to 31 October.
Why are there fallow deer at Ottenby?
King Johan III brought fallow deer to the royal estate of Ottenby on Öland in 1569, the Kalmar County Administrative Board says, and their descendants still live there; the present king, Carl XVI Gustaf, holds the hunting rights. The deer are easiest to see in autumn and winter.
How many birds are ringed at Ottenby each year?
The Kalmar County Administrative Board says thousands of birds are ringed each year at Ottenby Bird Observatory on Öland; naturum Ottenby gives about 20,000 on its English page and about 25,000 on its Swedish page. The observatory has ringed birds since 1946.