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LuitemaaNature Reserve

Photo: Pinewood on sand dunes, M. KosePhoto: Bovids in low-grassed coastal meadow in Võiste, M. Kose

Photo:  Stone beach covered with plants near Võistesaare, M. Kose

LUITEMAA NATURE RESERVEThe Luitemaa Nature Reserve with its territory of 11,220 hectares is located in the most scenic part of Estonia’s south-western coastlines and landscapes. The reserve was founded in 2000 when several smaller landscape protection areas, protected nature monuments and other areas of high natural value were merged. As well as being a part of the Natura 2000 network of European nature protection as a Special Area of Conservation and a Special Protection Area, Luitemaa is also one of the internationally important bird areas and has been entered into the Ramsar List of Wetlands of the International Importance. 263 species of birds, including 130 species of birds nesting in Estonia, have been seen here. More than 500 species of plants have been found in the nature reserve, among which the habitat of the meadow Gladiolus is evidently the largest in Europe.

COASTWithin the nature reserve, the coastline is very jointed, and includes numerous small bays, creeks, capes and islets. Due to the active agglomeration process of marine sediments, the sea is very shallow where deeper places alternate with sand banks that run collaterally with the coastline. With ebbs, extensive sandy and muddy boulder fields are denuded. In several places of the coastal zone there are large habitats of the common reed, club-rush, sedge and sea-bulrush.

The shallow water and articulate seashore make the area a favourable feeding and stop-over site for plenty of water birds. The most numerous and important species are the tundra swan, whooper swan, Eurasian wigeon, mallard, goldeneye, smew, bar-tailed godwit, wood sandpiper, white-tailed eagle, etc.

FOR HIKERSThe Rannametsa-Tolkuse Nature Study Trail (2.2 kilometres) runs through the dune pine forest and the Tolkuse Bog. It is passable, almost to its full length, on the board trail. When you climb the top of the watching tower, constructed on the crown of Estonia’s highest dune Tornimägi, which lies beside the trail, you will find yourself more than 50 metres above the sea level. Here opens a spectacular view of the Tolkuse Bog and the sea. When moving around in the bog, you can see the sundews, beak sedge, tussock cotton grass as well as peat mosses of different colours. If you are lucky, you can meet a sand lizard, a wood sandpiper, a red-backed shrike, a crane, or a meadow pipit.

The bird watching towers of Pikla Cape are located in the former complex of the Pikla fish ponds, which has become a valued bird area. In the migration period, different species of water birds can be spotted here. Besides, some species from the order Charadriiformes, characteristic of coastal meadows, such as the black-tailed godwit and the common redshank, nest here. In the permanent reed bed, the great bittern and the Western marsh-harrier can be seen.

The bird watching tower of the Pulgoja coastal meadow is located in the Häädemeeste large coastal meadow. The tower offers a good view of the sea and the meadow. Research on birds’ autumn migration is carried out in the permanent reed bed on the edge of the Pulgoja coastal meadow.

Photo: View of the coast at Luitemaa from Häädemeeste northwards, M. Kose

Photo: Woodlark, M. Kose

Photo: On the hiking trail, M. KosePhoto: A spring-fed lake in the middle of the Tolkuse Bog, M. Kose

Photo: Barnacle geese, M. Kose

SAND DUNESThe coastal dunes of southwest Estonia diverge into two ridges of different ages at Tahkuranna and rejoin at Häädemeeste. The seaside ridge is called the Rannametsa dunes and the one more inland is the Soometsa dunes. Between the ridges there is an overgrown lagoon dating back to the period of the Littorina Sea, which is nowadays known as the Tolkuse Bog.

The Rannametsa dune ridge, which demarcates the coastline during the Littorina Sea 5,000 years ago, is a part of the dune belt that almost uninterruptedly surrounds all Pärnu Bay’s seashore. The dunes, which have become natural symbols of Pärnu County, are at their highest near the Rannametsa Village. The hills called Tõotuse-mägi (Pledge Hill) and Tornimägi (Tower Hill), or Sõjamägi (War Hill), with its height of 34 metres are also Estonia’s highest sand dunes. From the watching tower constructed on Tornimägi, you can enjoy a splendid view of the surrounding bogs, forests and seascapes.

The dunes form several walls and ridges of complex shapes. Their seaward slopes have been slanted by winds, while their landward slopes are mostly steeper. On the dunes, pine-heath forests of dif-ferent ages grow. The characteristic birds are the raven, white-tailed eagle, Eurasian hobby, black woodpecker, stock dove, and Eurasian eagle-owl. The pinewoods adjacent to the bog are the habitats of the western capercaillie and the European nightjar. There is Estonia’s biggest colony of grey herons in the pine forest near Võiste.

The most common plants are the heather, bilberry, cowberry, common cow-wheat, black crowberry; the protected club moss can also be found. Such species of moss as Schreber’s big red stem moss and glittering wood-moss grow he re; in sandy places the bright bushes of reindeer lichens catch your eye.

In the dunes there are also patches of sand without vegetation, which are the habitats for the rare sand lizards and woodlarks.

The Soometsa dune ridge, lying more inlad, marks the coastline of Ancylus Lake that existed about 9,500 years ago. The lower and narrower dune strip is also a suitable type of habitat for the spruce. Thus, dissimilarly to the Rannametsa dune ridge, mixed spruce and pine forests occur here.

The dune ridges are dissected by several rivers and brooks, which drain the water from the area behind the dunes into the sea. On the steep banks of the man-made Timmkanal between two roads, you can examine the bed of denuded Middle Devonian sandstone beneath the dunes. The construction of the canal was launched by Thimm, a landholder of the Häädemõisa Manor, in 1856, in order to dry the land behind the dune ridges and raft timber. Timmkanal is known as the spawning place for the brown trout and the river lamprey, and common kingfishers make their nests in the bank’s sand walls.

One of the greatest values of the nature reserve is its coastal meadows. Historically, the local coastal pastures covered about 1,000 hectares. In the past decades, however, the grazing in the meadows decreased and finally ceased, which resulted in the reed covering a large part of the area. After the establishment of the reserve, state benefits and international programmes have been of great help to restore and maintain the coastal meadows. The area of the meadows maintained at the moment is more than 600 hectares, which makes it the largest territory of coastal meadows in Pärnu County and one of the largest ones in Estonia.

Open coastal low-grassed meadows are essential habitats for several species of birds who, due to the disappearance of suitable biotopes, have become rare, such as the red-backed sandpiper, ruff, black-tailed godwit, common redshank. Nearly 15,000 barnacle geese and up to 3,000 greater white-fronted geese and bean geese stop here on their migration. The low-grass vegetation and shallow puddles are also necessary for the natterjack toads – the most characteristic amphibians of coastal meadows.

Due to the damp soil, poor in lime, the local flora is more luxuriant than that in the coastal meadows of West-Estonia, and is more similar to the vegetation in river marshes. More than 250 species of plants have been found growing in the coastal meadows of Luitemaa. One of Europe’s largest habitats of the meadow Gladiolus is found here. The other protected species include the shining meadow row, Baltic marsh orchid, heath spotted orchid, lesser butterfly-orchid, early marsh orchid and marsh angelica.

FORESTSBeside the dune pine forests, extensive wood areas also occur in the northeast and east of the nature reserve. There are several types of deciduous and mixed forests, which are often related to damp places of growth. On the lower edges of the bog, some woods with moor pines and dwarf birches, and wet peatland forests grow. Woodland forests can be found in moderately moist places. On the wet, fertile soil in the area between the dunes and Soometsa Village, deciduous woodland lies with plenty of species of broad-leaved trees, such as the lime tree, fluttering elm, maple and ash. The lush undergrowth offers the habitat for the perennial honesty, which is its only known place of growth besides the North Estonian Klint. The ramsons also grow here. In the flat valley of the Ura River, affected by floods, there are some forests where, in addition to the above-mentioned broad-leaved trees, also the oak occurs.

ADMINISTRATIVE AUTHORITYEnvironmental BoardPärnu-Viljandi Region

64 Roheline Str., 80010 PÄRNUPhone: +372 447 7388

parnu@keskkonnaamet.eewww.keskkonnaamet.ee

ARRANGEMENT OF VISITSSouthwest Estonian Region

Nature Management DepartmentState Forest Management Centre (RMK)

Phone: +372 505 8242kabli.looduskeskus@rmk.ee

www.rmk.ee

©Compiled by: Marika Kose, Mati KoseFront cover photo: Meadow Gladioulus,

M. KoseLayout by: Akriibia Ltd.

Printed by: Aktaprint PLC

© Environmental Board

LUITEMAANature Reserve

DOS AND DON’TS FOR VISITORS ● You can stay and move about as well as pick berries, mushrooms and other forest goods in the whole nature reserve, except during the validity of seasonal moving restrictions: on the islands and islets of the Pikla and Pulgoja Conservation Zones from 1 April to 15 July, and in the Ilvese, Kükametsa, Mõtuse and Vanamänniku Conservation Zones from 1 February to 15 July.

● You can stay on private land from sunrise to sunset unless you do damage to the landowner. In case the private land is fenced or marked, you need the landowner’s permission.

● You can move round on your motor vehicle only on the provided roads and park it only in the car park. You can cycle on the roads and provided paths.

● You can use only non-power watercraft on the bodies of water in the nature reserve. The use of motorized watercraft on the sea is permitted with the agreement of the administrative authority.

● You can put up a tent and make a fire only. At the time of wildfire hazard, making an open fire, even on special grounds, is forbidden.

● Keep your dog on the leash while moving about in the nature. ● Fishing is allowed in the waters of the nature reserve, except in the Rannametsa River in the Rannametsa Conservation Zone from 1 July to 31 March.

● Try to act without leaving traces in the nature.

When you see damage done to the nature or visiting objects, inform the Environmental Inspectorate by phone 1313.

Photo: Wood sandpiper, M. Kose

BOGSWithin the boundaries of the Luitemaa Nature Reserve, there are two bogs. The Tolkuse Bog with its area of 5,500 hectares dates back to the time when the sea lagoon between the beach ridges paludified. The 1,600-hectare-large Soometsa, or Maarjapeaksi, Bog came into being after a dell, formed on sand and moraine, had swamped.

The age of the Tolkuse Bog is estimated to be about 8,000 years. The Timmkanal divides the bog into two, the southern part being also called the Maasika raba (Strawberry Bog). In the place of the bog, there once used to be a sea bay between the sand dunes dating back to Ancylus Lake and the Littorina Sea, which became a coastal lake or a lagoon and finally paludified. In the oldest part of the bog, the peat layer is as thick as five metres.

The Tolkuse Bog is exceptional because the surrounding surface forms cause a peculiar water regime: the pressurized groundwater which falls down from the high dune slopes opens up in the form of springs in the pools and lakes in the middle of the bog, and causes such trophity and acidity conditions that are characteristic rather of fens than of bogs. This is also referred to by the plants growing in the lakes and pools in the central part of the bog, such as the bulrush, cowbane, bog-bean, and several species of sedges and ferns, characteristic of fens, as well as dwarf birches, willows and even spruces. Due to the specificity of its waters, the bog constitutes the only example in the Baltic countries of a type of a bog with oligotrophic edges. This is apparently the specific water regime that has led to the significant growth of the peat layer – 1.6–1.9 mm a year –, annually recorded in the northern part of the bog. Due to the bog’s location in a dell between the dunes, the bog slope in nearly unremarkable.

The drainage work done at different times has led to the present situation when several large lakes in the middle of the bog have dried up and overgrown, and the open bog has increasingly been covered with trees.

In the bog, the European golden plover, wood sandpiper, whim-brel, great grey shrike, common crane and black grouse make their nests. The bog islands are breeding and hiding places for the roe deer, elks and wild boars.

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