Description of the attraction
In the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea there is a state reserve "Birch Islands". This is a wetland created in 1994 and is of international importance. It is located at a distance of 2 km southwest of the city of Primorsk in the Leningrad Region. You can get to the reserve by following from St. Petersburg to the city of Primorsk, then 2 km south-west through the Bjerkezund Strait. The reserve covers an area of 55295 hectares on land, as well as 47020 hectares in the water area of the Gulf of Finland.
The purpose of the creation of this reserve was to improve the living conditions of semiaquatic and waterfowl during all periods of their biological cycle. It is equally important to preserve the natural hydrological regime and a significant diversity of ecosystems, including the protection of rare species of birds and animals, maintenance of an optimal environment of aquatic and coastal vegetation necessary for their food and protection.
The area is perfect for the development of family recreation, ecological tourism, amateur, sports and exclusive fishing.
The territory includes a large number of islands of various sizes, the largest of them are: North Berezovy, Bolshoy Beryozovy, Zapadny Beryozovy, Maly Beryozovy, southern and western parts of the water area.
Forest vegetation predominates in the vegetation cover of the archipelago. The most common type of coniferous forest on all the islands of the archipelago is pine forests. Spruce forests are widespread only on North Birch Island. Birch forests play an important role in the vegetation cover of the islands, which replace coniferous forests after felling, fires and are the main type of communities on overgrown agricultural lands. Aspen forests are found in small tracts and very rarely. Predominantly to the coasts, there are Black alder forests, which are the main element of the vegetation cover of the islands. The deciduous forests of Maly Berezovy Island are absolutely unique; some very old perennial oaks are found among them. These are typical broad-leaved forests of oak, ash, maple, linden, with the presence of many oak plants in the herbaceous cover (dense corydalis, perennial forested forest, variegated pearl barley).
The archipelago has different types of bogs: lowland, transitional, upland. From a botanical point of view, pine-sphagnum bogs are the most interesting on Bolshoy Berezovy and Zapadny Berezovy islands. There, in addition to the usual marsh plants, there are some species that are rare for the Leningrad region: the willow weed, the flooded plunger, the soddy marsh, the intermediate sundew.
Various types of fish live and spawn around the Birch Islands: smelt, pike perch, herring, bream, perch. There are also small, but rare and valuable species of fish here: whitefish, vendace, slingshot.
The zones where large sites of waterfowl are located are shallow waters, bays and straits between the islands formed during the spring migration. Particularly numerous are the camps of the river duck (mallard, shirokonoska, sviyaz, teal-cracker, pintail, teal-whistle), geese (black and barnacle), swans (tundra and whooper), diving duck (scooter, blue, long-tailed ducks, crested black), mergansers (long-nosed and large).
Smaller islands are the favorite nesting places for waterfowl. They formed mixed colonies of terns, gulls with numerous nests of ducks inside. Such settlements are known on the islands of Maly Berezovy, Rondo, Bolshaya Otmel, Ludah and numerous small islets.
The breeding ground for the Baltic ringed seal is the southern and western waters. From year to year, depending on the boundary edge of the freeze-up, the area in which the seals breed changes, but, as a rule, it is located 6-10 km south of Bolshoy Berezovy Island.
