Lake Vallonjärvi Nature Path

Lake Vallonjärvi, guided nature path 2,2 km and bird watch tower.

A diverse lakeside nature path around Vallonjärvi. Vallonjärvi is located about one kilometre from the city centre.

The waterside and aquatic vegetation around the shores of Vallonjärvi is very diverse. Many plant species, such as reedmace, bottle sedge, common reed and lakeshore bulrush form large, uniform growths in the area. In many places, the lake is surrounded by a dense birch thicket or willow bushes extending all the way to the sedge stands on the shoreline. A total of around ten willow species grow in the area, among them the grey-leaved downy willow (Salix lapponum), which is very rare in southern parts of Finland.

The lush waterside and aquatic vegetation serves as a home for the area’s fairly diverse birdlife to nest in. The most frequently observed species are anseriformes, such as mallards, common teals, Eurasian wigeons, common pochards, tufted ducks and goldeneyes. Other birds typical to the area include the common snipe, common coot, sedge warbler and reed bunting. There is a bird observation tower which you can climb to observe the birds in the area.

On the eastern shore of Vallonjärvi, there is a forest area called Heikkilänmetsä, which is mostly old-growth spruce forest. There are also small grove areas and reforested fields where there may have been settlements at some point in the past. This is suggested by the abundant occurrence of many cultural plants in the area, such as red elderberry, stinging nettle and herb bennet, for example. Some demanding bird species, such as the garden warbler, black cap and icterine warbler, nest in the area’s grove-type woodlands. The forest has an abundant growth of baneberry, which has shining black berries of a coffee-bean size and shape, and are very toxic.

The 2.2-kilometre-long nature path starts in a gravel storage area along the connecting road and meanders along the eastern and northern shorelines of Vallonjärvi.