 Main page » Tourism » Natural and environmental tourism » Solovetsky Archipelago
The Solovetsky Archipelago is situated in the northern part of the Onega Bay in the White Sea, 165 km to the south of polar circle. The Archipelago consists of more than 100 islands, 6 of them are quite large: the Bolshoy (Greater) Solovetsky Island, Anzer, Bolshaya (Great) and Malaya (Small) Muksalma, Bolshoi (Great) and Malyi (Small) Zayatsky Islands. The highest points of the Solovki are the Verbokolskaya Mountain (86 m) on the Anzer Island, the Sekirnaya (Axe) Mountain (74 m) on the Bolshoy (Greater) Solovetsky Island, the Golgotha Mountain (64 m) on the Anzer Island.
The uniqueness of nature of the Solovetsky Islands depends greatly on their geographical position but also on the microclimate: winter is mild, spring is colder than autumn, summer is fresh. The seasons change each other 2 or 3 weeks later than on the Continent. The climate is determined by the geographical position of the Islands, as well as by the cyclones which move through the North of Russia and by the warmth the White Sea brings.
The closeness of the Solovetsky Islands to polar circle determines the daylight duration. The longest night is in December, it lasts about 22 hours, and the polar day in June lasts the same. In May the Islands have white nights which last to the middle of July.
Original is the ice regime of the White Sea; it does not freeze all over; around the islands and along the mainland coast there appears ice up to 6 km wide, the rest part of the sea is open with separate ice pans floating around. This is why historically and geographically the Solovetsky Islands used to be separated from the outer world from November to May.
The White Sea is inhabited by 1500 species of plants and animals, 460 of them are plants (seaweeds: blade-kelp (Laminaria), fucus (Fucus), ahnfeltia (Ahnfeltia), 1000 are invertebrates (Crustacea class, Amphineura class, Echinodermata, worms, hydroids, polyps, sponges (sea aster, sea urchin, sea drummer, Squatinidae family, arrow worm, pattelula, sea cucumber, gurnard, water-flea, acorn barnacle, mussel among them), 70 fishes ( salmon, herring, plaice, lump-sucker, navaga, sea trout, smelt, seacat) and 60 sea animals (ringed seal, sea hare , white whale).
190 species of birds are registered as visiting the Solovki, only half of the number is nesting here (seagull, sand-pipers, guillemot, eider, merganser, tern, mallard, northern diver, raff, willow grouse, golden-eye, thrush, brambling, tit, woodpecker, bunting, capercailzie, crossbill, hazel hen, hawk owl).
In the shadow of trees bigger part of animals live, they are fewer than on the mainland at the same altitude. Only hares, squirrels, foxes, mice managed to get to the Islands, in summer one can see bats. The only reptile on the Solovki Islands is a viviparous lizard; there are no snakes.
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| | «Botanical garden»At the end of the 19th century favourable climatic and soil conditions allowed the monks to arrange botanical garden on the Islands; a great number pf plants have been acclimatized there, among them apple-tree (M. palassii), dwarf shadbush, Hungarian lilac, Siberian pea-tree, Japanese rose with a high content of vitamin C, etc. The bus will take you to the monuments of the Makary Pustyn (Makary’s Hermitage), you will see the trees planted during the Monastery and Camp periods on the territory of the Botanical Garden. For more detail... |
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| | «Sea voyage to the Beluzhiy (White Whale) Cape»In the last few years the Beluzhiy Cape became very popular with the tourists; it is situated about 10 km to the north-west of the settlement (in the direction of the Sekirnaya (Axe) Mountain. White whale is a mammal of cetacea order, it reaches 8 m long, and when it is young its colour is grey and becomes whiter with the years. White whales have great cupola-like heads; their heads grow and protrude fast. Annually, in summer season, the White Sea dolphins, white whales of 6 m long, get together off the Cape, close to the shore. The sight is unusual and attracts more and more tourists every year. For more detail... |
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