bird lovers in isosaari

Isosaari is an old abandoned army fortress on the coast of Helsinki. Nowadays this is a paradise for wild birds migrating to and from Finland.   Photo: Jarmo Nieminen

Isosaari has been a Russian naval fortress early in the Grand Duchy of Finland during 1809-1917. After that time it was a site of Finnish army, until year 2014.
Now it is partly open for birdwatching.

Old sign banning the boat-owners to board, saying "Quarantine Island"

All around the island there are old cannon sites. They were used to close the Gulf of Finland, so enemies were not able to attack st. Petersburg (Leningrad on Soviet time)

Quillemot (cepphus grylle) is a common bird in Isosaari. 

During one cold and windy day we had the opportunity to take part in one team, that was building safety covers above eider (somateria mollissima) nests. They are required, so the white-tailed Eagles (haliaeetus albicilla) cannot catch the eiders from the nests.

White-tailed Eagle gliding above                                        Photo: Jarmo Nieminen

Ready-made protection cover above eider nest place.

On top of the old bunkers we were able to build protection lockers for the quillemots