Matsalu National Park

Matsalu is a shallow bay, a river delta and a wide band of coastal meadow and reed bed, and it sits directly under one of the main flyways between the Arctic and western Europe. Twice a year that geography turns it into one of the most important bird sites on the continent. The rest of the year it is a quiet, flat, slightly melancholy piece of coast with almost nobody on it.

What you actually see

Reed beds that run to the horizon, wet meadows grazed to keep them open, and a bay so shallow that the water and the land blur into each other. Five observation towers are spread around the edge - Keemu, Haeska, Kloostri, Suitsu and Penijõe - and each looks over a different habitat, so which one is worth your time depends on what is moving.

In peak migration the numbers are the point. Barnacle geese arrive in flocks that darken a whole field, whooper swans stack up on the bay, and cranes gather in the meadows before crossing the sea. On a good October morning at Haaska the counts run into the tens of thousands.

When to go

• April to May - spring passage. Geese, swans, waders; the meadows are wet and loud.
• September to October - autumn passage, usually the bigger spectacle, with cranes and barnacle geese.
• Summer - breeding season. Far fewer birds, but corncrakes calling at night in the meadows.
• Winter - largely empty, and worth it only if you want the emptiness.

Honest expectations

This is a birding site first. Without binoculars you will see a flat landscape and some distant specks; with them you will see why people plan trips around it. A scope makes a real difference at the bay towers.

The towers are open, unheated and exposed - in spring that means wind off the water, and the walk in to some of them crosses wet meadow. Rubber boots are not optional in April.

Nearby

Haapsalu, with its castle ruins and long wooden promenade, is the natural base. The Noarootsi peninsula and the ferry ports for Vormsi and Hiiumaa are all within an hour.