One of the indicator species of our project, the common spadefoot toad, has also caught the attention of the Osoon team! Here is your chance to jump in headfirst with the Osoon crew and amphibian experts Riinu Rannap and Elin Soomets-Alver and learn more about the fate of the common spadefoot toad!

Despite the showers and thunderstorms last week, nature conservation experts from the Environmental Board went to see the invasive species mapped this spring to assess their growth and population. We can now say that these sites have been fully overtaken by invasive species. For example, the tallest measured Japanese knotweed reached a height of four metres. In addition, native species often fail to grow under these expansive colonies.

This week, together with scientists from the Environmental Board and the University of Tartu, the managers of the semi-natural grasslands in Lahemaa assessed the biodiversity of their meadows, along with the ease or difficulty of mowing and grazing, and how the area being cared for and the natural values found there have changed over the years.

The ‘Spot the Invasive Species!’ campaign is still ongoing, in which we are calling on people to report on the wild habitats of four invasive species – knotweeds, the common snowberry, the false spiraea, and goldenrods!

For this year’s Day on Semi-Naturals Species, which took place on 2 July, we organised five different hikes to meadows and floodplain meadows in different parts of Estonia.

This year, the Ministry of the Environment offered Ukrainian children and their parents the opportunity to visit Estonia’s natural values during Nature Conservation Month, and LIFE-IP ForEst&FarmLand provided financial and organisational support.

On 28th of May, the LIFE programme - EU’s funding instrument for the environment and climate action - celebrated its 30th birthday. To celebrate this day, ten projects funded by the programme opened their doors in Estonia to show how we have contributed to nature and well-being.

As the ForEst&FarmLand project is planning to dig hundreds of small water bodies suitable for the common spadefoot and the northern crested newt, we are especially happy to cooperate with the Estonian Fund for Nature as part of their theme year dedicated to the common spadefoot!

On February 17, 2022, the Environmental Board together with the project team of ForEst&FarmLand selected the most outstanding managers of semi-natural grasslands in Estonia! Among thirteen nominees, Ülle Tamm from Manilaid, Tiit and Ulvi Uusoja from Hiiumaa and Viljar Ilves from Alam-Pedja were selected as laureates. All of them have contributed to community activities as well as to sectoral development, with a commitment to excellence, exemplary caretaking of the lands and green thinking and action.

On February 1, 2022 a pilot project was launched with the funding from the project ForEst&FarmLand and implemented by the Environmental Board and the Estonian Hunters' Association to reduce the impact of small carnivores on birds nesting in the coastal meadows of Läänemaa, Hiiumaa and Muhumaa.