Southeastern Estonia seeing scant mushroom, berry hauls this year
Sellers of mushrooms and berries, annual fruits of the forest which usually see the high season run through July and August and into the start of autumn, will face a lighter workload this year due to the cold spring and dry early summer making their effects known.
Anu Palover, who sells produce in Southeastern Estonia, told AK that: "A few boxes of mushrooms came once there were some showers, but as of today the situation is very bad; when there is nothing to gather from the forest, blueberries can be picked, but these are thin on the ground too."
The same applies for blackberries, raspberries, cloudberries etc.
Emajõe-Suursoo nature tour Kristina Traks told AK that: "Berries ripen at very different times in different parts of Estonia, and there can be a lag of two weeks; and it can also be the case that even within the same area of bog they ripen at different times," depending on the sunlight situation.
One such bog is Meerapalu, near to the shores of Lämmijärv, is usually a popular blackberry-picking spot, and in some cases, particularly on the margins of forested land, berries are in more abundance than elsewhere.
Traks said this was the result of the forest acting as a shield against some of the spring cold, at a time when snow was the norm into early April in places.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte