Protected natural areas are studied at school as part of the discipline "Natural History". Kandalaksha Reserve is no exception. It spreads over an area of more than fifty-eight thousand hectares in the territory of the Murmansk region and is considered a reserve for the protection of many waterfowl. Most of it is the Barents Sea. About birds living in this state-protected territory, they write not only in school textbooks. The local flora and fauna were examined in detail by the famous writer V. Bianchi.
Appearance story
Like many other reserves and national parks in Russia, Kandalakshsky was created with the aim of preserving a certain species of animals and birds. In this case, it is an ordinary eider, which is famous for its down and has great value abroad. In 1932, when the illegal killing of this bird, the ruin of its nests and the collection of eggs for sale reached destructive proportions, this reserve was created. Initially, it was considered a scientific base on which ornithologists studied the birds living in this region. Gradually, the number of waterfowl began to increase.
Value
After some time, the Kandalaksha State Nature Reserve was transferred to the department of the relevant committee. This has led to increased control over the protected area and the expansion of its borders to today's.
At the moment, it is difficult to overestimate the international importance that the Kandalaksha Reserve, located in the waters of the Gulf of the same name, has for the conservation of habitats for waterfowl.
Geographic conditions
This natural protected area is located on the coast of the Barents Sea and in the small bay of Bely. There is no sun in Kandalaksha for up to eight days in a row, about forty on the adjacent Seven Islands. However, even during the polar night, wintering daytime animals enjoy a normal existence.
Kandalaksha Reserve is located in the climatic zone, formed under the influence of the Murmansk current. The peculiarity of the natural conditions of this water area is the strong temperature differences, so sharp cooling and warming are observed in all seasons.
Relief
The geological structure of the area, which covered the State Kandalaksha Reserve, is interestingly preserved rock formations, which are more than three billion years old. The terrain was formed under the influence of repeated glaciations. The shores destroyed by the waves, as well as the shafts formed from pebbles rolled up by the sea and boulders, are incredibly beautiful. In total, the Kandalaksha Nature Reserve owns thirty-five geological objects that have the status of natural monuments.
It consists of almost four and a half hundreds of islands that have different shapes and structures, many types of vegetation - from bare rocks to areas covered with dense forest. There are few brooks and lakes in the reserve. All of them are quite small. The largest - Big Kumyazhye and Serkinskoye - reach a depth of ten meters.
Flora
Kandalaksha Reserve in its vegetation has more than six hundred and thirty species. On the White Sea coast and islands, pine and spruce prevail. There are many plants characteristic of the sea coast - sedge, cereal and Asteraceae.
The bogs of the reserve are subdivided into sedge, shrubby or cotton grass - depending on the vegetation prevailing on them. However, water bodies are not at all rich in large species of herbs. Even reeds growing along the coasts never form dense thickets.
In areas where sea and silver gulls accumulate, vegetation is very diverse, since the soil in these places is well fertilized. Here you can see the large-flowered daisy, stubble, eyelet and sorrel, buttercup, etc.
Animals
Kandalaksha Reserve has about one hundred and sixty species of representatives of the local fauna. Of these, twenty-one are mammals, one hundred and thirty-four are feathered, two species of reptiles and three are amphibians.
Predatory animals such as lynx, wolverine and wolf are more common on the island of Veliky. However, they do not constantly live there, since for them this territory is too small.
There are two or three bears on the site adjacent to the Great. The fox and marten, weasel and ermine, as well as the American mink, constantly live in the reserve. Their livestock cannot be called numerous: it depends on the presence of small rodents.
The hare is the most widespread fur-bearing animal; it lives on all islands of the reserve. In the coldest winters, polar bears sometimes appear here. On the lakes, where there is rich vegetation, there is a muskrat swimming across from one island to another and choosing the most favorable habitat.
Among small mammals, a red vole is found here, as well as lemmings, which appear on the territory of the conservation zone only during their mass migrations.
Birds
Capercaillie, black grouse, hazel grouse and partridge, as well as some species of tits, woodpeckers and cuckoos, live here all year round. In the spring, when migratory birds appear, the forests in the reserve come to life. Flocks of birds along the sea coasts, in sparse pine forests and spruce forests, are especially numerous. Here you can find the white-browed thrush, black grouse, partridge, such predators as the kestrel, derbnik and hawk owl. Sandpipers and fifi, snipe and a large snail settle in the swamps.
Specially Protected Plants
And although all biological species inhabiting the Kandalaksha Reserve are subject to conservation, nevertheless, many rare species are listed here, included in the Red Book of both Russia and the Murmansk Region. They have a specially protected official status.
About forty-two percent of the total number of endangered species is noted here from the Red Book of the Murmansk Region, of which five are mushrooms, thirty-four are lichens, twenty are liverworts, and the same are leafy moss. Among vertebrates, six fish species, two representatives of reptiles and amphibians, forty-two birds, and some mammals are especially protected.
Plants found on the territory of Kandalaksha Bay and nowhere else in the world grow mainly in protected areas. Among them are island croup, an arctic sunflower and a white-tongued dandelion.
Specially Protected Animals
There are twenty seven species in the reserve. For the Atlantic gray seal, as well as for the crested and Great Atlantic cormorants, the Kandalaksha Reserve is the main habitat and breeding site in all of Russia. In addition, an ordinary eider nests here (for the sake of which, in fact, this protected zone was originally created), golden eagle, osprey, peregrine falcon, white-tailed eagle, gyrfalcon and Scandinavian white-throated thrush. Specially protected marine mammals are several species of whales and dolphins, as well as the common seal, polar bear and walrus.
