Meiko has many lakes, beautiful forest and diverse birds including Black-throated loons, which are living in lake Meiko.

Meiko – unique nature reserve in Helsinki metropolitan area
Meiko nature reserve was established in 1960´s and it has retained exceptionally well its wilderness character: swamps, ponds and lakes are in its natural state. So in Meiko you can experience wild life!

Besides fantastic nature Meiko includes also fortifications from the Porkkala lease period. Namely after the Second World War Finland was forced to lease part of areas near Helsinki metropolitan to Soviet Union. If you are interested in the Porkkala lease period, you can read more in my previous post Beautiful landscapes and fighting Swans in Kopparnäs.
My first visit to Meiko – the round of four bonds
I visited Meiko first time in April this year. Reason for my Meiko visit was holidays and the Corona isolation: I was not allowed to cross the border of Uusimaa and needed to find something new inside Uusimaa. I was lucky to find this gem!
Meiko nature reserve The round of four ponds
In Meiko you can choose three different signposted routes of which I chose the round of four bonds also known as Kotokierros. The round of four ponds is located in rocky Dorgarn upland area. Between the cliffs are Korsolampi, Immerlampi, Kakarlampi, Kotolampi and Mustjärvi.

The birds of Dorgarn include e.g. capercaillie, teal, cuckoo and owl. So far I haven’t met them!



Return to Meiko
Reson for my return to Meiko was Black-throated loons. Namely mr H had noticed in Instagram some photos of loons taken in lake Meiko and wanted to find them there.
Early in the morning of July we headed to lake Meiko. This summer quite often the mornings have been foggy due to the cold nights. So it was also in the Meiko when we arrived there, the lake was hidden in a fog. I was in heaven as I love foggy landscape as you can find in my previous posts (Mysterious misty lake, Misty mornings in May). Instead of searching for loons I concentrated on photographing the beautiful landscape.




Actually I found loon couple with a chick but it was too foggy to get any good photos. I have visited the lake two more times and found the loon family but also some young loons which were dancing one night.

I will post more of my Black-throated loon photos in my next post.
Thank you for visiting my blog and welcome back! I am glad if you leave a comment.
Minna from Finnish nature 😊
Thank you Minna, I enjoy your blog.
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Thank you very much! I enjoy also yours 😊
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A beutiful forest and real nature around this lake it seems to be.
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It is really beautiful place. Water on the Meiko lake is crystal clear.
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What a beautiful area!
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Yes, it is beautiful place
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Beautiful landscape compositions, Minna, and I love those loons!
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Thank you Donna! I visited Meiko yesterday evening and found the loon family. It was late evening and now photos seem to be too dark 😩
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Here’s a tip on dark photos. I’m not sure what program you use to process yours. Try removing contrast from your photos, you might be surprised with a nice photo. Also after changing contrast, try processing in B&W. I’ve saved many photos doing this. 🙂
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Thank you Donna for a tip. I am using Lightroom and Photoshop. The water in my loon photos is making me crazy… I will try your process 👍
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I use Photoshop. 👍 Do you take your photos in raw or jpg format?
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I take in raw format and then convert it to jpg when publishing. Actually your tip works very well and I got aldready few photos with both birds and the background in a good balance 👍😊 Thank you Donna! I am so glad that you helped me to save my loons photos 🙏🏻😁
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I do just as you do, shoot raw and then convert to jpg for publishing. 🙂 I’ve ‘thrown’ that contrast toggle to the far left with dark photos and ‘presto’ on some! I’m self-taught, I picked that tip up from another blogger few years ago. 😊
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Me too self-taught😊 I am so lazy to read instructions …. may be it would help to get better photos 😂 But your tip is excellent 🙏🏻
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I love the misty photos and the dancing loons! 🙂 What a lovely place to visit!
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Thank you Magickmermaid! It is so lovely place and nice to visit 👍
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