“I quite accidentally noticed a large boulder hidden among the trees. At first, I mistook the boulder for an earthen embankment, but as I approached it, the thick layer of moss made me change my mind. Underneath the moss, there turned out to be a large boulder,” says Aivars Paulins, a planner for the North Latgale region of AS “Latvijas valsts meži” (LVM), who was working in the Pilda parish of Ludza municipality, about the rare find.

Regarding the unusual discovery, the planner contacted an LVM environmental planning specialist to jointly survey the unusual find once more and carry out precise measurements of the boulder. The above-ground volume of the found boulder is approximately 11 cubic metres, which meets the criteria for a large boulder and is a protected natural monument.