The flying squirrel survey at Malmi Airport was continued from 4 to 6 January 2021. The survey revealed many more flying squirrel nesting trees, droppings, observations of the animal, and suitable habitat.
The detection ability of KAER Ltd’s trained inventory dogs is considerably more accurate than the visual examination of droppings, as the dogs are able to detect droppings based on smell. Studies by the City of Helsinki have found no significant concentrations of flying squirrels in these areas (link below).
This second dog survey of the area examined the southeastern corner of the airport area (the so-called Nallenrinne area) and the woods at the edge of the Youth Center’s go-kart circuit. Both areas revealed clear signs of flying squirrels and habitats suitable for them. The impact of flying squirrel habitat on Nallenrinne zoning may be significant.
“With more accurate surveying methods, the woods around Malmi Airport are proving to be more and more important to the flying squirrel. Instead of just two individual core areas found in the city’s surveys, it now seems that the critter favors the whole southern and eastern edge of the airport”, says member of the Board of Friends of Malmi Airport Seppo Sipilä, who has kept tabs on the nature values of the area for a long time.
“There is still a lot to explore on the northeast corner and the western edge, but on the observation map, the flying squirrel seems to besiege the airport wherever there is a suitable uniform woods with communications. This is particularly gratifying because the population of this species has plummeted in Finland by as much as 30% in the last ten years.”
The new survey has been submitted to the Uusimaa ELY Center, the City of Helsinki and the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation for action.
Friends of Malmi Airport Association
info@malmiairport.fi
More information
KAER Ltd (in Finnish)
City of Helsinki bulletin about flying squirrel observations 2020 (in Finnish)