The light and warmth of the summer is used to raise offspring

Northern summers are warm and bright. They help plants to flourish, insects and young birds to take wing and coastal waters to fill with fry. In the summer, Ruissalo is like a huge kindergarten of nature, with young creatures taking their first steps everywhere you look.

The abundance of food and warmth make summer the best time of the year to breed and raise young. However, Finnish summers are also short; in just a few months, the new generation – chicks, tadpoles, calves and fry alike – need to grow, become independent and get strong enough to migrate or survive the winter. In other words, there’s no time to lose! Plants are in no less of a hurry, as they need to grow, produce seeds and buds for the next spring and possibly build up reserve nutrients in their roots.