Lågskär ( Swedish for "low skerry") is a small island within the

Åland Åland ( , ; ) is an Federacy, autonomous and Demilitarized zone, demilitarised region of Finland. Receiving its autonomy by a 1920 decision of the League of Nations, it is the smallest region of Finland by both area () and population (30,54 ...

archipelago of

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

. It belongs to the municipality of Lemland. It is situated about south of

Mariehamn Mariehamn ( , ; ; ) is the capital of Åland, an autonomous territory under Finnish sovereignty. Mariehamn is the seat of the Government and Parliament of Åland, and 40% of the population of Åland live in the city. It is mostly surrounded b ...

in the

Baltic Baltic may refer to: Peoples and languages *Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian *Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originatin ...

Sea of Åland The Åland Sea (or the Sea of Åland; , ) is a waterway in the southern Gulf of Bothnia, between Åland and Sweden. It connects the Bothnian Sea with the Baltic Proper, Baltic Sea proper. The western part of the basin is in Swedish territorial w ...

. The main island of Lågskär measures in area. Rock stacks, sea cliffs and rocky shores are found along the coastline of the island. As a breeding ground for

waterfowl Anseriformes is an order of birds also known as waterfowl that comprises about 180 living species of birds in three families: Anhimidae (three species of screamers), Anseranatidae (the magpie goose), and Anatidae, the largest family, which i ...

, Lågskär has the status of an

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

(IBA) and is frequented by

ornithologists __NOTOC__ This is a list of ornithologists who have articles, in alphabetical order by surname. See also :Ornithologists. A * John Abbot – US * Clinton Gilbert Abbott – US * William Louis Abbott – US * Humayun Abdulali — India * Joseph ...

who use the Lågskär Lighthouse buildings during their stay. In the past, several vessels have sunk off the coast.

History

The earliest habitation on the island was linked to a

cairn A cairn is a human-made pile (or stack) of stones raised for a purpose, usually as a marker or as a burial mound. The word ''cairn'' comes from the (plural ). Cairns have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes. In prehistory, t ...

and a wooden

beacon A beacon is an intentionally conspicuous device designed to attract attention to a specific location. A common example is the lighthouse, which draws attention to a fixed point that can be used to navigate around obstacles or into port. More mode ...

that existed on the island during the 1600s and 1700s. In the 1840s, when the first lighthouse was constructed to replace the beacon, there were 20–30 inhabitants comprising the families of the lighthouse keepers. In addition to rearing livestock, fishing, and hunting wildlife, the families ran a school for their children; a lighthouse society functioned at the time. The wooden lighthouse was remodeled into a stone structure which was destroyed during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. The existing lighthouse, built in 1920, introduced a rotating

gas lighting Gas lighting is the production of artificial light from combustion of a fuel gas such as methane, propane, butane, acetylene, ethylene, hydrogen, carbon monoxide, coal gas (town gas) or natural gas. The light is produced either directly by ...

device, noted as the first of its kind in the world. After the lighthouse was automated in 1961, the lighthouse keepers vacated the island. It is uninhabited since. On 11 April 1918, the German Nassau-class battleship ran aground in heavy fog during World War I. In 1934 or 1935, the German vessel ''Frida'' sprang a leak and sank off Lågskär, but the crew survived. On the evening of 21 October 1942, Finnish submarine ''Vesihiisi'' torpedoed and sank the Soviet S-class submarine ''S-7'' near Lågskär.

Geography

The island comprises a mix of greenery and rocky areas, with the thickest vegetation towards the centre. Rock stacks, sea cliffs and rocky shores are found along the coastline. There is a small sandy beach at the north west side. Near the island, particularly to the south, there are rocky islets and rocks, including Sundbloms Grund, Söderkläppen and Österkläppen. To the east are Kalvskär and Norra Kalvskär. Wetlands International has identified the island as a

wetland A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...

. The Middle Åland Sill, one of three sills in the two basins of the Åland Sea, measuring width, is situated between Söderarm and Lågskär and separates the two basins of the Åland Islands.

Nature and wildlife

The Björkör-Lågskär area, measuring in size, is part of a

Ramsar Site A Ramsar site is a wetland site designated to be of international importance under the Ramsar Convention,8 ha (O) *** Permanent 8 ha (P) *** Seasonal Intermittent < 8 ha(Ts) **

(IBA) since 2000. A

Birds Directive The Birds Directive (formally known as Council Directive 2009/147/EC on the conservation of wild birds) is the oldest piece of EU legislation on the environment and one of its cornerstones which was unanimously adopted in April 1979 as the Dir ...

designation for overlaps the IBA site. Lågskär is occasionally visited by ornithologists for

birdwatching Birdwatching, or birding, is the observing of birds, either as a recreational activity or as a form of citizen science. A birdwatcher may observe by using their naked eye, by using a visual enhancement device such as binoculars or a telescop ...

, and to operate a

bird ringing Bird ringing (UK) or bird banding (US) is the attachment of a small, individually numbered metal or plastic tag to the leg or wing of a wild bird to enable individual identification. This helps in keeping track of the movements of the bird an ...

station which was established in 1964. They use the abandoned buildings during their stay. The island has been identified by ''Alula'', the Finnish birding magazine, as “one of the most important breeding bird islands of the Finnish Baltic Sea”. On the island are Steller's eider ''(Polysticta stelleri)'', the key bird species, and

razorbill The razorbill (''Alca torda'') is a North Atlantic colonial seabird and the only extant member of the genus ''Alca (bird), Alca'' of the family Alcidae, the auks. It is the closest living relative of the extinct great auk (''Pinguinus impennis' ...

''(Alca torda).'' Other breeding species recorded are:

Mute swan The mute swan (''Cygnus olor'') is a species of swan and a member of the waterfowl family Anatidae. It is native to much of Eurasia, and (as a rare winter visitor) the far north of Africa. It is an introduced species in North America, home to ...

''(Cygnus olor)'',

greylag goose The greylag goose (''Anser anser'') is a species of large goose in the waterfowl family Anatidae and the type species of the genus ''Anser (bird), Anser''. It has mottled and barred grey and white plumage and an orange beak and pink legs. A lar ...

''(Anser anser)'',

tufted duck The tufted duck (or tufted pochard) (''Aythya fuligula'') is a small diving duck with a population of nearly one million birds, found in northern Eurasia. They are partially migratory. The scientific name is derived from Ancient Greek , an unide ...

''(Aythya fuligula)'',

gadwall The gadwall (''Mareca strepera'') is a common and widespread dabbling duck in the family Anatidae. Taxonomy The gadwall was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae''. DNA studies have shown th ...

''(Anas strepera)'',

black guillemot The black guillemot or tystie (''Cepphus grylle'') is a medium-sized seabird of the Alcidae family, native throughout northern Atlantic coasts and eastern North American coasts. It is resident in much of its range, but large populations from the ...

''(Cepphus grylle)'',

''(Alca torda)'',

guillemot Guillemot is the common name for several species of seabird in the Alcidae or auk family, part of the order Charadriiformes. In Europe, the term covers two genera, '' Uria'' and '' Cepphus''. In North America the ''Uria'' species are called mu ...

''(Uria aalge)'', water rail ''(Rallus aquaticus)'', colonies of

gulls Gulls, or colloquially seagulls, are seabirds of the subfamily Larinae. They are most closely related to terns and Skimmer (bird), skimmers, distantly related to auks, and even more distantly related to waders. Until the 21st century, most gul ...

''(Larus spp.)'',

terns Terns are seabirds in the family (biology), family Laridae, subfamily Sterninae, that have a worldwide distribution and are normally found near the sea, rivers, or wetlands. Terns are treated in eleven genus, genera in a subgroup of the fam ...

''(Sterna spp.)'' and the

white-tailed eagle The white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), sometimes known as the 'sea eagle', is a large bird of prey, widely distributed across temperate Eurasia. Like all eagles, it is a member of the family Accipitridae (or accipitrids) which also ...

''(Haliaeetus albicilla)''. Despite harsh conditions, the vegetation on the island is fairly diverse. Following the island's grazing ban, vegetation has become very thick and has resulted in it becoming a breeding ground for waterfowl. There is large

reed bed A reedbed or reed bed is a natural habitat found in floodplains, waterlogged depressions and estuaries. Reedbeds are part of a succession from young reeds colonising open water or wet ground through a gradation of increasingly dry ground. As ...

in the small lagoon area. Fish species reported in the late 19th century in a small rock pool of in size continue to flourish. '' Carassius carassius'' of lengths varying between is found along the coastline, and in a 1993 study, some 18 species of

macroalgae Seaweed, or macroalgae, refers to thousands of species of Macroscopic scale, macroscopic, Multicellular organism, multicellular, ocean, marine algae. The term includes some types of ''Rhodophyta'' (red), ''Brown algae, Phaeophyta'' (brown) and ...

were recorded at depths varying between . The species reported include '' Pilayella littoralis'', '' Ectocarpus siliculosus'', '' Fucus vesiculosus'', and '' Rhodomela confervoides'', followed by a lesser number of '' Sphacelaria arctica'', '' Cladophora rupestris'', '' Stictyosiphon tortilis'' and '' Polysiphonia fucoides'' than in a previous 1950s study.

References

;Bibliography * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lagskar Landforms of Åland Finnish islands in the Baltic Ramsar sites in Finland Important Bird Areas of Baltic islands Important Bird Areas of Finland