Forest loggings during the nesting season are increasing in Finland. The
aim of this article is to evaluate how current regulation applies to summer
loggings, paying special attention to the protection of birds. The Birds
Directive and the Finnish Nature Conservation Act prohibit the deliberate
killing and disturbance of birds. Regardless, it seems that in practice, none
of these rules is applied to birds and summer loggings as forestry is not
considered ‘deliberate’ killing or disturbance even if thousands of birds are
killed in summer loggings every year. European biodiversity targets and the
principle of minimizing harms would emphasize implementing and monitoring
existing national law and soft law more actively than currently is the case.