Puhtu-Laelatu Nature Reserve is a nature reserve situated in western

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

, in

Lääne County Lääne County ( et, Lääne maakond or ''Läänemaa'', literally "Western land"; german: Wiek; la, Rotalia) is one of 15 counties of Estonia. It is located in western Estonia and borders the Baltic Sea to the north, Harju County to the north-ea ...

. It is located in the territory of

Pivarootsi Pivarootsi is a village in Lääneranna Parish, Pärnu County, in western Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across ...

Rame "Rame" is a rare word in English which means branch. Rame is also the name of two villages in Cornwall: Rame may also refer to: Geography * Rame, Maker-with-Rame, in southeast Cornwall **Rame Head, a coastal headland near the first of these, as we ...

and Hanila villages and in

Virtsu Virtsu is a small borough (') in Lääneranna Parish, Pärnu County, Estonia. It lies on the western coast of continental Estonia, and is a location of the main port for traffic to and from Saaremaa, the largest island of Estonia. The Virtsu fe ...

small borough. The nature reserve encompasses parts of

Puhtu Puhtu (also known as Puhtuaid) is a former islet and since the beginning of the 19th century a peninsula in western Estonia. Administratively it belongs to Virtsu small borough in Lääneranna Parish, Pärnu County. Puhtu is covered by a specio ...

peninsula and nearby Laelatu

wooded meadow Wooded meadows (also named ''wood-meadows'', ''park meadows'', etc.) are ecosystems in temperate forest regions. They are sparse natural stands with a regularly mown herbaceous layer. While frequent throughout Europe during the Medieval period an ...

s. The nature reserve is a species-rich conservation area comprising mainly herb-rich forested areas, coastal meadows and

alvar An alvar is a biological environment based on a limestone plain with thin or no soil and, as a result, sparse grassland vegetation. Often flooded in the spring, and affected by drought in midsummer, alvars support a distinctive group of prairie ...

s. It is the only known place in Estonia where the orchid Dactylorhiza ruthei grows. Other rare species include

Cypripedium calceolus ''Cypripedium calceolus'' is a lady's-slipper orchid, and the type species of the genus ''Cypripedium''. It is native to Europe and Asia. Taxonomy ''Cypripedium'' comes from the Greek Κυπρισ πεδιον (''Kupris pedion''), meaning Venus' ...

and

Angelica palustris ''Angelica palustris'' ( syn. ''Ostericum palustre''), commonly known as marsh angelica, is a biennial or a perennial plant species from the family Apiaceae. It can grow up to 1.2 meter tall. It has bipinnate leaves, meaning arranged opposite e ...

Gallery

Jäämäed Puhtulaiul.JPG, Mountains of ice in spring Sügis salumetsas Puhtulaiul.jpg, Autumn forest Õitsev karulauk Puhtulaiul.jpg, ''

Allium ursinum ''Allium ursinum'', known as wild garlic, ramsons, cowleekes, cows's leek, cowleek, buckrams, broad-leaved garlic, wood garlic, bear leek, Eurasian wild garlic or bear's garlic, is a bulbous perennial flowering plant in the amaryllis family Amary ...

'' Mälestusmärk Puhtulaiul.JPG, Memorial to

Friedrich Schiller Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, and philosopher. During the last seventeen years of his life (1788–1805), Schiller developed a productive, if complicated, friends ...

in Puhtu Laelatu puisniit 24Sep2008.jpg, Laelatu wooded meadow on September

References

{{Nature reserves of Estonia Nature reserves in Estonia Geography of Lääne County Tourist attractions in Lääne County Lääneranna Parish Ramsar sites in Estonia

See also

Gallery

References