Summer visitors come flying
The record breaking heat has lured many wandering, non-indigenous birds and insects to Finland. As the forecast predicts the warm whether to continue over the weekend, eagle eyed nature explorer can still spot these rarities.
One of the visiting species is the beautiful dragonfly, Banded Darter. The male has red abdomen and broad brown bands across the outer section of each wing. Its flying is typically slow and fluttering. Photo: Christian Fischer / Creative Commons.
July in Finland has been exceptionally warm. The temperature record got broken in Joensuu, in Eastern Finland, when the thermometer hit 37.2 degrees Celsius on 29 July. Also the number of hot days has been unusual; 24 July was the only day of the month when the temperature did not rise above 25 degrees anywhere in Finland.
The hot South-Eastern air flows have brought also rare visitors to Finland.
According to The Finnish Environment Institute some wandering bird species that are seen in Finland very infrequently, have been more common sights due to the heat wave.
These species include Pallas’s Sandgrouse, Black-winged Stilt, Woodchat Shrike, European Bee-eater, Gull-billed Tern, and Paddyfield Warbler. Also exceptionally many Common Quails are nesting in Eastern Finland.
Recently, there have also been many sightings of butterflies such as Large White, Small White, Bath White, and Pale Clouded Yellow, as well as some wandering moths. However, the winter in Finland is too cold for all of these species for hibernation.
Some of the visitors stay permanently
A species that has been anticipated to arrive in Finland for some time, has also been spotted during the warm summer. Banded Darter (Sympetrum pedemontanum), a species of dragonfly that is a permanent resident in continental Europe was seen recently in Hanko, the southernmost town in Finland.
Also another dragonfly species, Emperor (Anax imperator), has raised the interest of insect enthusiast’s lately. It was seen on the island of Långskär in Åland Islands couple of weeks. This species either hasn’t got a permanent population in Finland. At least not yet.
Based on previous experiences, some of the species that come to Finland occasionally may build up permanent populations. This has happened to European Peacock, which has spread to Finland during a long period of time.
Elisa Lautala works as web editor for University of Helsinki's Faculty of Science. Elisa likes all kinds of cultural events, good books, warm weather, and aqua-jogging.