Despite it being haymaking season, it is on 2 July, a date that we have celebrated as Semi-natural Grassland Day for the past five years, that no work should be done according to the Old People’s Calendar. Instead, we invite you to celebrate Estonian landscapes and heritage in whatever way you wish.

The coastal meadows of Matsalu National Park are important nesting areas for meadow waders, with the small predators hunting for prey on the coastal meadows being their biggest enemies. The greater the number of trees and shrubs growing in coastal meadows, the greater the chance that foxes, European badgers and, in some cases, jackals will sneak over to the ground nests and feast on nesting birds’ eggs.

Today, 28 January, Minister of Climate Yoko Alender and Director General of the Environmental Board Rainer Vakra recognised the most outstanding managers of semi-natural grasslands, who contribute with their activities to the preservation of Estonia’s most species-rich landscapes and the preservation of life on land.

The economic maturity of a forest is reached before its ecological maturity, with the contradiction starting with the fact that a significant number of species can only live in a forest that is more than a hundred years old.

One of the aims of the LIFE IP “ForEst&FarmLand” project is to restore 20 coastal meadows in Hiiu County, Saare County, and Lääne County. This includes, among other things, the felling of trees and shrubs, restoration of water regimes, removal of reeds, and the limiting of the population of small predators that threaten waders nesting on coastal pastures. This is a considerable challenge, as there are more than 300 areas to be restored and over 240 owners involved. Fortunately, more than 60% of landowners are willing to cooperate with conservation efforts.

From 9–11 October, a joint workshop on LIFE projects was held in Leuven, Belgium, to discuss the implementation of performance-based grants and their impact on biodiversity. The meeting was attended by projects dealing with agricultural issues, where they discussed the initial results and challenges of testing the new support system.

Last week, in order to enrich agricultural landscapes, we planted a 130-metre hedge in the ‘Postirõõmu’ field of OÜ Mäemõisa, consisting of various trees and shrubs suitable for hedge plants – boxwood, viburnum shrubs, mountain currant, buckthorn, hawthorn, hazel, elm, etc. We used various mulches and trunk protection methods in the planting area in order to later analyse these methods and select the most suitable ones.

On 25 September, the umbrella organisation of European hunters, FACE, presented the Estonian Hunters’ Society with an award for its significant contribution to nature and fauna.

The award was given for the pilot project of hunting small predators, which has enabled us to control the abundance of foxes, raccoon dogs and jackals in five coastal meadows in Läänemaa, Hiiumaa and Muhumaa, which in turn has allowed waders nesting in the coastal meadows to nest more safely.

On 12–13 August, we learned about the alien species control activities carried out under the Latvian LIFE project LatViaNature. The control activities were introduced to us by Jēkabs Dzenis, Jānis Saulītis and Aiva Bojāre from the Latvian environmental agency, with whom we visited the Ķemeri and Ragakāpa nature parks and the Vecdaugava nature reserve.

Last week, the Conference on Ecological Restoration in Tartu brought together 700 researchers, practitioners and policy makers from 47 countries, who have at heart the preservation of biodiversity, ecological restoration of nature and an ever smarter cooperation between man and nature. More than 80% of Europe’s natural habitats have been damaged and impoverished. The European Nature Restoration Law, which entered into force last week, aims to change this situation decisively.