The Viidumäe Nature Reserve was founded in 1957. was already known and interesting to botanists since the middle of the last century. Such a late date of foundation of the reserve is connected with the adoption of the law on nature protection in the Estonian SSR only in 1957.
The reserve is located in the western part of Saaremaa Island. The main purpose of its creation was to preserve and study relict communities and rare plant species. The reserve is primarily famous for its plants. The animal world is not of great interest. It is inhabited by the most common fauna of Saaremaa Island. There are 16 species of animals (squirrel, badger, roe deer) and 61 species of birds (of which 2 are rare). The flora is represented by 662 species of plants.
The area of the reserve is 0.6 thousand hectares, with the area covered by forests being 0.5 thousand hectares, the length from north-east to south-west is 6.5 km and the width is 700-1200 metres. Due to the richness and originality of the plant world. Foreign and many of our botanists call this place a natural botanical garden.
The upland, on which the reserve is located, rose from the sea about 8,000 to 9,000 years ago, and nowadays its highest point is 54 metres above sea level.
Viidumäe's slopes of the central highlands of Saaremaa are primarily interesting in terms of geomorphological formations. These slopes, against the background of the flat relief of the island, are characterised by protrusions of bedrock and subsoil; the composition of the soil cover is strata of Silurian limestone, moraine and sands. The Viiidumäe Upland is the source of many small springs, which originate on the Viiidumäe Upland. Many small springs originate on the Viidumäe Upland, which at the foot of the slope form a fairly extensive key bog with significant peat deposits.
Characteristic elements of the Viidumäe upland landscape are Viiidumäe Nature Reserve landscape are slopes covered with forest and forest meadows, and a key bog with shrubs. The climate of the western part of Saaremaa Island, including Viiidumäe including the Viidumäe Nature Reserve, is maritime and mild. The period without night frosts lasts 175-200 days. The warmest month is July, with a temperature of 18-19°. Annual annual precipitation is 490-640 mm. Permanent snow cover, averaged from 27 December to 23 March, is retained for 78-85 days.
On the slope itself and in the key bog. grow rare species of relict plants of the Baltics. On the slope and plateau of the Viidumäe Nature slope and plateau are forests of different types: alvar, lichen, heath.
The alvar forests occupy 95 hectares. The forest tier is represented by common pine, European spruce, as well as birch, birch bark and oak. In the shrub layer there are mainly common hazel and a little less common juniper. In the herbaceous tier dominated by six-leaved labaznik, common pereleska, blood-red geranium, and spring primrose and some other species that prefer lime-rich soils. The alvar forest type is also characterised by common ivy, which is rare in the Baltics, as well as aria mountain ash, a very rare tree, which is found nowhere in the former USSR,
Heather and lichen forest types are distributed in small patches. forest types are distributed in small patches on small territories (11, 5 ha). The heather forest type dominates, with pine taking precedence, with slightly less spruce, with many juniper trees in the shrub layer. The herb layer consists of a small number of plant species.
The most widespread in the reserve are, bilberry forests, lingonberry forests, soursop forests and green-moss forests (total area 187 ha); lingonberry forests dominate.
In all described forest types the dominant tree is pine, with spruce, aspen and birch also occurring. The undergrowth is characterised by typical shrubs typical for Baltic conditions. Grass cover is represented by various species of forest plants; the dominant species are either common lingonberry, common sagebrush, or bilberry, or green mosses. Although the overall herb cover is generally sparse and species-poor.
A rare forest type is the Pine forest with an oak understorey. It grows on the plateau and at the foot of the slope. This forest type forest type is considered a relict forest, the occurrence of which in the present climatic period is impossible. In the forest understorey, along with pine, oak grows 10-12 m high; spruce is also present. The herbaceous and shrub layer is quite diverse (blood-red geranium, six-leaved lobasnail, spruce, spruce and spruce).
Apart from the above mentioned, other types of forests are also widespread in the reserve: complex forests with broad-leaved forests (75 ha), lowland forests (29 ha) and forests of transitional bogs (19 ha).
There are also other types of forests here. there are such rare plants as the hairy sharpshooter, black chyna, Kashub pea, chinaberry pea and mountain St John's wort.
Key shrub bog is a valuable botanical treasure of the Viidumäe Nature Reserve. Its area is 77 hectares. The rarer plant species include the following plants: sword-grass, small vesicle, Lezel's liparis, Karlov sceptre. The endemic of the island is the Ezellian rattlesnake. This plant grows only on Saaremaa.
Rare plants include intermediate dewberry, alpine greasewood, aromatic crabapple, rough-toothed horsetail and a hybrid of scheenus rusty and blackish.
The main objective of the reserve is the study and conservation of relict communities and relict plants and preservation of relict communities and rare plant species. Observations and all sorts of research observations and all sorts of research. At present, a large-scale map of the vegetation of Viidumäe has been compiled to take a walk and enjoy the cleanest air, to be alone with nature, to escape from the city centre and familiarise yourself with rare plant species.
