The Ardahan forest lies north-east of the town on the broad Kura valley, high above sea level, an important bird area where Scots pine woods, hand-mown hay meadows, farmland and wide mountain steppe meet. Beside the Ardahan-Kars road is Putka Lake, 15 hectares in size and mostly covered by bulrushes.
The marsh around the lake holds 10 breeding pairs of corncrake, the species that gives the area its bird-area status. In small numbers, red-necked grebe, gadwall, teal, mallard, garganey, pochard, ferruginous duck, tufted duck, crane and citrine wagtail nest at Putka. The black kite, buzzard, long-legged buzzard, lesser spotted eagle and falcons very probably breed in the forests, and many vultures and eagles, black vulture among them, are seen over the area, though they are thought to nest outside it.
When to go
- Climate
- Across Ardahan as a whole, monthly mean temperatures run from -11.2 °C in January to 16.1 °C in August; the mean stays between 15 and 25 °C in July and August; rainfall is heaviest in June (92 mm) and lightest in January (20 mm). Long-term means for 1958-2025 from the Turkish State Meteorological Service (MGM).
