Albysjön is a lake

Lake

A lake is a body of relatively still fresh or salt water of considerable size, localized in a basin, that is surrounded by land. Lakes are inland and not part of the ocean and therefore are distinct from lagoons, and are larger and deeper than ponds. Lakes can be contrasted with rivers or streams,...

 forming part of Lake Mälaren

Mälaren

Lake Mälaren is the third-largest lake in Sweden, after Lakes Vänern and Vättern. Its area is 1,140 km² and its greatest depth is 64 m. Mälaren spans 120 kilometers from east to west...

. It separates Botkyrka Municipality

Botkyrka Municipality

Botkyrka Municipality is a municipality in Stockholm County in east central Sweden, not far from the capital Stockholm. Its seat is located in the town of Tumba....

 and Huddinge Municipality

Huddinge Municipality

Huddinge Municipality is a municipality in Stockholm County in east central Sweden. Its seat is located in Huddinge, which is a part of Stockholm urban area.The municipality is the second most populated in Stockholm County....

 in south-western Stockholm

Stockholm urban area

The Stockholm urban area is the largest and most populous of the statistical localities or urban areas in Sweden. It has no administrative function of its own, but constitutes a continuous multimunicipal built-up area, which extends into 11 municipalities in Stockholm County. It contains the...

, Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

.

The lake, which is filling a geological fault, has steep cliffs along the western shore. To the north it connects to Vårbyfjärden through the narrow strait Fittja näset. Its is an important recreational area for inhabitants in the neighbouring suburbs Alby

Alby

Alby may refer to* Alby, Botkyrka, Sweden, a Stockholm suburb* Alby, Öland on the island of Öland, Sweden* Alby with Thwaite in Norfolk, England* Alby People, a Stone Age people in Öland, Sweden* Alby, Ånge, a village in Ånge Municipality, Sweden...

, Vårby gård, and Myrstuguberget, as well as for a large number of other visitors attracted by the Flottsbro Open-air Area and its bath in the southern end of the lake.

Catchment area

Next to the bath in the southern end of the lake is the tallest ski slope in Stockholm together with Gömsta Äng Nature Reserve. Angling

Angling

Angling is a method of fishing by means of an "angle" . The hook is usually attached to a fishing line and the line is often attached to a fishing rod. Fishing rods are usually fitted with a fishing reel that functions as a mechanism for storing, retrieving and paying out the line. The hook itself...

 is free on the lake and very popular in summers, while jigging

Jig (fishing)

Jigging is the practice of fishing with a jig, a type of fishing lure. A jig consists of a lead sinker with a hook molded into it and usually covered by a soft body to attract fish. Jigs are intended to create a jerky, vertical motion, as opposed to spinnerbaits which move through the water...

 attracts many people in winters when ice cover allows. The Flottsbro Open-air Area offers walking tracks, restaurants, camping, and many other open-air facilities available throughout the year. In summers kayak

Kayak

A kayak is a small, relatively narrow, human-powered boat primarily designed to be manually propelled by means of a double blade paddle.The traditional kayak has a covered deck and one or more cockpits, each seating one paddler...

s , canoe

Canoe

A canoe or Canadian canoe is a small narrow boat, typically human-powered, though it may also be powered by sails or small electric or gas motors. Canoes are usually pointed at both bow and stern and are normally open on top, but can be decked over A canoe (North American English) or Canadian...

s, Canadian canoes are available for rent.

Environmental impact

Albysjön is rich in nutrients derived mostly from the surrounding catchment area. The lake receives stormwater

Stormwater

Stormwater is water that originates during precipitation events. It may also be used to apply to water that originates with snowmelt that enters the stormwater system...

 discharge from a 6 km² large area in Botkyrka and a 4 km² area in Huddinge.

Flora and fauna

The aquatic flora composed of Reed

Phragmites

Phragmites, the Common reed, is a large perennial grass found in wetlands throughout temperate and tropical regions of the world. Phragmites australis is sometimes regarded as the sole species of the genus Phragmites, though some botanists divide Phragmites australis into three or four species...

, Common Club-rush, Flowering rush, Yellow iris

Iris pseudacorus

Iris pseudacorus is a species of Iris, native to Europe, western Asia and northwest Africa. Common names include yellow iris and yellow flag...

, Greater Water-parsnip

Sium latifolium

The Sium latifolium or Greater Water parsnip or sometimes simply Water parsnip is a plant species of the genus Sium....

, Brooklime

Brooklime

Veronica beccabunga is a succulent herb belonging to the family Plantaginaceae. It grows on the margins of brooks and ditches in Europe, North Africa and north and western Asia. It can be found on other continents as an introduced species...

, Bulbous Rush, Toad Rush

Juncus bufonius

Juncus bufonius, known commonly as toad rush, is a common species of rush found worldwide. It grows in moist and muddy places and is considered a weed in many areas. This is an annual monocot that is quite variable in appearance. It is sometimes described as a complex of variants labeled with one...

, Eight-stamened Waterwort, Needle Spike-rush

Eleocharis acicularis

Eleocharis acicularis is a species of spikesedge known by the common names needle spikerush and dwarf hairgrass. It has a circumboreal distribution and it can also be found throughout the rest of the Americas. It is also found in Australia, where it is probably an introduced species...

, Spring Quillwort, Amphibious Bistort, Pale Persicaria, Rigid Hornwort

Ceratophyllum demersum

Ceratophyllum demersum is a species of Ceratophyllum. It is a submerged, free-floating aquatic plant, native to North America but nowadays having a cosmopolitan distribution in temperate and tropical regions...

, Horned Pondweed

Zannichellia palustris

Zannichellia palustris, , is a plant found in fresh to brackish waters in the United States , Europe, and South America. It is recognizable by its long, thread like leaves, and "stringy" appearance. Its roots are also long and tendril-like, and its seeds bear a distinctive horned shape, hence the...

, Perfoliate Pondweed, Blunt-leaved Pondweed

Potamogeton obtusifolius

Potamogeton obtusifolius is an aquatic plant in the genus Potamogeton. It grows mainly in eutrofic lakes and ponds, rarely in brackish water. Species occurs primarily in Central Europe, British Isles, Fennoscandia and eastern North America....

, Grass-wrack Pondweed, Fennel Pondweed

Potamogeton pectinatus

Stuckenia pectinata , commonly called fennel pondweed or sago pondweed, and sometimes called ribbon weed....

, Various-leaved Pondweed

Potamogeton gramineus

Potamogeton gramineus is a species of aquatic plant known by the common name variableleaf pondweed. It is native to much of the Northern Hemisphere, where it grows in water bodies such as ponds, lakes, bogs, and streams. It may be found elsewhere as an introduced species. This is a perennial herb...

, Lesser Pondweed

Potamogeton pusillus

Potamogeton pusillus is a species of aquatic plant known by the common name small pondweed. It has a Circumboreal distribution, occurring throughout the northern Northern Hemisphere. It grows in water bodies such as ponds, lakes, ditches, vernal pools, and slow-moving streams...

, Fan-leaved Water-goosefoot, Whorled Water-milfoil, Alternate Water-milfoil, Spiked Water-milfoil

Myriophyllum spicatum

Myriophyllum spicatum is a species of Myriophyllum native to Europe, Asia, and north Africa. It is a submerged aquatic plant, and grows in still or slow-moving water.-Description:...

, Canadian Waterweed, Nuttall's Waterweed

Elodea nuttallii

Elodea nuttallii is a species of waterweed known by the common name western waterweed. This is a perennial aquatic plant which is native to North America where it grows submersed in lakes, rivers, and other shallow water bodies. It is also found in Eurasia, where it is commonly weedy; it is not...

, and Common Duckweed

Lemna minor

Lemna minor is a species of Lemna with a subcosmopolitan distribution, native throughout most of Africa, Asia, Europe and North America, occurring everywhere that freshwater ponds and slow-moving streams occur, except for arctic and subarctic climates...

. There are Stoneworts

Charales

Charales is an order of pondweeds, freshwater algae in the division Charophyta. They are green plants believed to be the closest relatives of the green land plants. Linnaeus established the genus Chara in 1753.-Description:...

 such as Chara delicatula and Nitella flexilis

Nitella flexilis

Nitella flexilis is a freshwater species of characean algae that is used as a model organism for its large cell size and relative ease of cultivation in the laboratory.-Description:...

.

On the shores are plants like Alders, Hybrid Crack Willows, Osiers, Elm

Elm

Elms are deciduous and semi-deciduous trees comprising the genus Ulmus in the plant family Ulmaceae. The dozens of species are found in temperate and tropical-montane regions of North America and Eurasia, ranging southward into Indonesia. Elms are components of many kinds of natural forests...

s, Ashes, Grey Willow, Birch

Birch

Birch is a tree or shrub of the genus Betula , in the family Betulaceae, closely related to the beech/oak family, Fagaceae. The Betula genus contains 30–60 known taxa...

, Aspens

Populus tremula

Populus tremula, commonly called aspen, common aspen, Eurasian aspen, European aspen, trembling poplar, or quaking aspen, is a species of poplar native to cool temperate regions of Europe and Asia, from the British Isles east to Kamchatka, north to inside the Arctic Circle in Scandinavia and...

, Great Yellow-cress

Rorippa amphibia

Rorippa amphibia is a plant species in the genus Rorippa....

, Gypsywort

Gypsywort

Lycopus europaeus is a perennial plant in the Lycopus genus, native to Europe and Asia, and naturalized in the United States.-Habitat:...

, Skullcap

Scutellaria galericulata

Common Skullcap , also known as Marsh Skullcap or Hooded Skullcap, is a hardy perennial herb native to northern areas of the Northern Hemisphere, including Europe, Asia, and much of North America. It is a member of the mint family...

, Whorled Mint (a hybrid species between Corn Mint

Mentha arvensis

Mentha arvensis is a species of mint with a circumboreal distribution. It is native to the temperate regions of Europe and western and central Asia, east to the Himalaya and eastern Siberia, and North America.It is a herbaceous perennial plant growing to 10–60 cm tall...

 and Water Mint), Trifid Bur-marigold

Bidens tripartita

Bidens tripartita, commonly known as Three-lobe Beggarticks, Three-part Beggarticks, Leafy-bracted Beggarticks or Trifid Bur-marigold, is a flowering plant in the genus Bidens. It is native to large parts of the Northern hemisphere, including Europe, the Indian subcontinent, North America,...

, Slender Tufted-Sedge

Carex acuta

Carex acuta or Acute Sedge, Slender Tufted-sedge, Slim Sedge can be found growing on the margins of rivers and lakes in the Palaearctic terrestrial ecoregions in beds of wet, alkaline or slightly acid depressions with mineral soil....

, Reed Sweet-grass

Glyceria maxima

Glyceria maxima Holmb. is a species of rhizomatous perennial grasses in the mannagrass genus native to Europe and Western Siberia and growing in wet areas such as riverbanks and ponds...

, Annual Meadow-grass

Poa annua

Poa annua, or annual meadow grass , is a widespread low-growing turfgrass in temperate climates. Though P. annua is commonly considered a solely annual plant due to its name, perennial bio-types do exist. 'Poa' is Greek for fodder. It is one of the sweetest grasses for green fodder, but less ...

, Silverweed, Purple-loosestrife.

Naturally occurring fishes are Melt, Northern pike

Northern Pike

The northern pike , is a species of carnivorous fish of the genus Esox...

, Roach

Rutilus

Rutilus is a genus of fishes in the family Cyprinidae, commonly called roaches. Locally, the name "roach" without any further qualifiers is also used for particular species, particularly the Common Roach Rutilus (Latin for "shining, red, golden, auburn") is a genus of fishes in the family...

, Rudd

Rudd

The common rudd Scardinius erythropthalmus is a bentho-pelagic freshwater fish, widely spread in Europe and middle Asia, around the basins of the North, Baltic, Black, Caspian and Aral seas.-Artificially introduced:...

, Tench

Tench

The tench or doctor fish is a freshwater and brackish water fish of the cyprinid family found throughout Eurasia from Western Europe including the British Isles east into Asia as far as the Ob and Yenisei Rivers. It is also found in Lake Baikal...

, Bleak

Bleak

The common bleak is a small pelagic fish of the Cyprinid family. It is often referred to simply as a "bleak", though this term can refer to any species of Alburnus.-Description:...

, Silver Bream

Silver Bream

The Silver Bream is a species of ray-finned fish in the Cyprinidae family.-Locations:It is found in Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Gibraltar, Hungary, Iceland, Iran,...

, Carp Bream

Carp bream

The common bream, freshwater bream, bream, bronze bream or carp bream, Abramis brama, is a European species of freshwater fish in the family Cyprinidae....

, Eel

Eel

Eels are an order of fish, which consists of four suborders, 20 families, 111 genera and approximately 800 species. Most eels are predators...

, Burbot

Burbot

The burbot is the only gadiform fish inhabiting freshwaters. It is also known as mariah, the lawyer, and eelpout. It is closely related to the marine common ling and the cusk...

, Perch

European perch

The European perch, Perca fluviatilis, is a predatory species of perch found in Europe and Asia. In some areas it is known as the redfin perch or English perch, and it is often known simply as perch. The species is a popular quarry for anglers and has been widely introduced beyond its native area,...

, Zander

Zander

Zander is a species of fish. The scientific name is Sander lucioperca , and it is closely allied to perch. Zander are often called pike-perch as they resemble the pike with their elongated body and head, and the perch with their spiny dorsal fin. Zander are not, as is commonly believed, a pike and...

, and Ruffe

Ruffe

The Eurasian Ruffe or simply Ruffe is a freshwater fish found in temperate regions of Europe and northern Asia. It has been introduced into the Great Lakes of North America, reportedly with unfortunate results...

. Spined loach

Spined Loach

The Spined Loach is a common freshwater fish in Europe and Asia. It is sometimes known as spotted weather loach, not to be confused with the "typical" weather loaches of the genus Misgurnus...

 was discovered in 2002 and occasionally Salmon

Atlantic salmon

The Atlantic salmon is a species of fish in the family Salmonidae, which is found in the northern Atlantic Ocean and in rivers that flow into the north Atlantic and the north Pacific....

 and Brown trout

Brown trout

The brown trout and the sea trout are fish of the same species....

 find their way into the lake, the later introduced in a local brook in 1992-93.

The invasive

Invasive species

"Invasive species", or invasive exotics, is a nomenclature term and categorization phrase used for flora and fauna, and for specific restoration-preservation processes in native habitats, with several definitions....

 bivalve Zebra mussel

Zebra mussel

The zebra mussel, Dreissena polymorpha, is a small freshwater mussel. This species was originally native to the lakes of southeast Russia being first described in 1769 by a German zoologist Peter Simon Pallas in the Ural, Volga and Dnieper rivers. They are still found nearby, as Pontic and Caspian...

 was first documented in Lake Mälaren in the 1920s and was confirmed in Albysjön in 2002. Other molluscs include Painter's mussel

Painter's mussel

The painter's mussel, scientific name Unio pictorum, is a species of medium-sized freshwater mussel, an aquatic bivalve mollusk in the family Unionidae, the river mussels.This species lives in Europe....

, Duck mussel

Duck mussel

Duck mussel, Anodonta anatina, is a species of freshwater mussel, an aquatic bivalve mollusk in the family Unionidae, the river mussels.Synonym: Anodonta piscinalis Nilsson, 1823Subspecies:*Anodonta anatina anatina...

, River nerite

Theodoxus fluviatilis

Theodoxus fluviatilis, common name the river nerite, is a small species of freshwater and brackish water snail with a gill and an operculum. It is an aquatic gastropod mollusk in the family Neritidae, the nerites....

, and River snail

Viviparus viviparus

Viviparus viviparus is a species of large freshwater snail with a gill and an operculum, an aquatic gastropod mollusk in the family Viviparidae, the river snails.-Distribution:This is a European species....

. Crayfish

Crayfish

Crayfish, crawfish, or crawdads – members of the superfamilies Astacoidea and Parastacoidea – are freshwater crustaceans resembling small lobsters, to which they are related...

es are not documented in the lake but as Signal crayfish

Signal crayfish

The signal crayfish, Pacifastacus leniusculus, is a North American species of crayfish. It was introduced to Europe in the 1960s to supplement the Scandinavian Astacus astacus fisheries, which were being damaged by crayfish plague, but the imports turned out to be a carrier of that disease...

 is present throughout Lake Mälaren it is believed to be present in Albysjön as well.

Commons birds include Canada Goose

Canada Goose

The Canada Goose is a wild goose belonging to the genus Branta, which is native to arctic and temperate regions of North America, having a black head and neck, white patches on the face, and a brownish-gray body....

, Mute Swan

Mute Swan

The Mute Swan is a species of swan, and thus a member of the duck, goose and swan family Anatidae. It is native to much of Europe and Asia, and the far north of Africa. It is also an introduced species in North America, Australasia and southern Africa. The name 'mute' derives from it being less...

, Mallard

Mallard

The Mallard , or Wild Duck , is a dabbling duck which breeds throughout the temperate and subtropical Americas, Europe, Asia, and North Africa, and has been introduced to New Zealand and Australia....

, Great Crested Grebe

Great Crested Grebe

The Great Crested Grebe is a member of the grebe family of water birds.- Description :The Great Crested Grebe is long with a wingspan. It is an excellent swimmer and diver, and pursues its fish prey underwater. The adults are unmistakable in summer with head and neck decorations...

, Coot

Eurasian Coot

The Eurasian Coot, Fulica atra, also known as Coot, is a member of the rail and crake bird family, the Rallidae. The Australian subspecies is known as the Australian Coot.-Distribution:...

, Goldeneye

Common Goldeneye

The Common Goldeneye is a medium-sized sea duck of the genus Bucephala, the goldeneyes. Their closest relative is the similar Barrow's Goldeneye....

, Gull

Common Gull

The Common Gull or Mew Gull Larus canus is a medium-sized gull which breeds in northern Asia, northern Europe and northwestern North America. It migrates further south in winter...

, Herring Gull, Black-headed Gull

Black-headed Gull

The Black-headed Gull is a small gull which breeds in much of Europe and Asia, and also in coastal eastern Canada. Most of the population is migratory, wintering further south, but some birds in the milder westernmost areas of Europe are resident...

, and Reed Bunting

Reed Bunting

The Reed Bunting, Emberiza schoeniclus, is a passerine bird in the bunting family Emberizidae, a group now separated by most modern authors from the finches, Fringillidae....

. In summers common visitors include Osprey

Osprey

The Osprey , sometimes known as the sea hawk or fish eagle, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey. It is a large raptor, reaching more than in length and across the wings...

, Grey Heron

Grey Heron

The Grey Heron , is a wading bird of the heron family Ardeidae, native throughout temperate Europe and Asia and also parts of Africa. It is resident in the milder south and west, but many birds retreat in winter from the ice in colder regions...

, Great Cormorant

Great Cormorant

The Great Cormorant , known as the Great Black Cormorant across the Northern Hemisphere, the Black Cormorant in Australia and the Black Shag further south in New Zealand, is a widespread member of the cormorant family of seabirds...

.