Despite the cold spring, the first bird's nest of the year has already been prepared in the Estonian capital, and is filled with eggs. While that may be true, the nest is in fact a new light installation, which has given new life to an old lamppost in the city's harbor area. Even more incredibly, the idea for the light installation came from five-year-old Tallinn schoolgirl named Stina.

"Stina is the niece of my good colleague Helen and the idea came to me in five seconds while I was on the ferry to Hiiumaa. Helen handed out some paper to the girls, and asked them, if they had a mast or a pole, what would you like to see there, on the top, or on the side. Stina immediately whispered 'a crane' and then began drawing," said Kristel Linnutaja, creative director of the light installation.

Stina confirmed that the idea came to her straight away.

"There was a post, Aunt Helen wanted to put something there. [I had] the idea that there would be eggs and things there," she told ERR.

According to Linnutaja, when the team saw Stina's drawing, they knew it was the best solution and nothing any adults came up with would have been as good. Stina's drawing was declared the winner of the design competition and "Nest," the installation it inspired, was completed in mid-March.

"We really liked the fact that cranes use the same nesting place for several years," said Linnutaja. the principle of recycling materials was also adhered to, as scrap metal from Merko's own construction sites was used to build the installation.

"The crane's nest is, in general, very symbolic for Estonians – who wouldn't want to have a crane's nest somewhere in the countryside?" Linnutaja added.

According to installation artist Sandra Ernitsa, "Nest" is highly visible as a landmark, even though it is behind some of the buildings in the area. There is however definitely scope for more similar installations in Tallinn.

"There are a lot of objects that could be used. I'm glad that there is something old still there, and if a new function can be found for it, then, all the better. I would urge everyone to think about it, because I think that this city is still ours and we, as people, should think more about the city only simply being shaped by developers," said Ernits.

Ernits also believes artists could be more involved in the design of Tallinn's urban space.

"As an artist, your perspective is a bit stronger, because you have to take personal responsibility for your work and think about that," said Ernits.

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