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Soosaare bog has many bog pools or hags. The hag in the photo is one of more than a thousand here

 

A distinct small area with beautiful nature – the Soosaare bog is in Alam-Pedja, only 3 kilometres from the north-western boundary of the protected area. As for nature it is similar to the bogs in the Põltsamaa marsh area to the east, being exceptionally rich in hags and picturesque. In this bog with an area of 15 square kilometres there are more than a thousand hags!

 

After the first steps in the bog it is clear that the hike today will not be easy. I strongly feel the lack of the snowshoes that I light-heartedly left at home considering the scarcity snow this winter. Actually there is really not much snow to speak of but it is unevenly distributed in the bog landscape. The wind takes the snow from open areas and piles it where bog pines stand up as a wall.

The snow crust only bears in places. So I trampled through the snow from time to time, to the bog surface, the fall in some cases ending in the water hidden in the peat moss. Winter has been on the warm side, and the bog has not frozen properly all the way.

 

Scented winter landscape. The source of the enigmatic smell is the Labrador tea reaching out of the snow

 

Already on the first kilometre of the hike I am in a winter landscape of smells: on a raised bog strip with trees the Labrador tea that reaches out of the snow entices us. In winter its smell has a different impact – it is harsher and stronger, undisturbed by other smells.

 

The hags of the Soosaare bog are extremely closely located. From each water eye the next one is visible or even the next two-three. Pity that the weather is so grey. The snow covering the hag mirrors blends with the white of the snow in the surroundings and that in turn with the grey clouds

 

On the sturdy pines at the edge of the hag the tiny cones of the small trees have opened. They all seem to be polished down to the last detail. In a bog mosaic that has remained similar for thousands of years quality reigns and quantity fails. There is much beauty to be found in tiny details.

 

The downy birch has its seed spreading time. From the catkin the seeds spill out on the snow crust where the wind carries them away

 

The wind moves the tiny birch seeds on the snow crust. The few downy birches in the bog try to find the  rarely occurring growth chances.

 

On the higher strip cutting across the bog a black woodpecker calls in greeting. I hear a tit group too here, but most of all the whistling of the nuthatches that had joined the group. Animals are not to be seen but roe deer tracks are stamped on the snow among the bog pines at the strip edge.

 

A squirrel moving along a forest path has avoided jumping over fallen tree trunks. Its jumps have always started from the top of the trunks

 

The squirrel has jumped along the wild animal track running along the strip. Moving along its tracks an important difference between man and squirrel becomes evident. While we prefer to step over fallen tree trunks squirrels have a habit of stepping on to them: squirrel jumps have always started from the tree trunks.

 

Bog landscapes are generous in offering experiences. If they offer nothing else just now then precious moments of silence at least.

 

The Soosaare bog nature today is fortunately better protected than ever before. In the current circumstances there are no more expansion options for the more than a hundred years old peat use designs.

 

More photos: LINK

 

Looduskalender's Alam-Pedja tales are supported by the Keskkonnainvesteeringute Keskus, Estonian Environmental Investments Centre.