The birds not only have property rights, they have also been clever at starting their nesting season on Løno before the small boat flotillas have been fixed up and made seaworthy after the winter. When the small boats do come out, there is a kind of competition for living space along the edge of the sea. The sea birds have the authorities on their side; in 1987 the southwesterly parts of Løno and some of the smaller outside islands came under protection as a nature preserve. In the protected zone, trespass is forbidden during the nesting season, from the 15th of April until the 1st of August.
Previously, the nature preserve had a nesting colony of Lesser Black-backed Gulls, Herring Gulls and Arctic Terns, and in addition, abundant populations of Great Black-backed Gull and Common Gulls. But, as on other bird reservations, the colonies change with time. The Herring Gull populations have remained stable, while the Great Black-backed Gulls have declined significantly. The tern populations are unstable. The biggest seabird colonies today are found outside of the reservation, after new establishments on Sengholmen and other small islets.
Parts of Løno have been purchased for use as a recreational area, administered by the Bergen and Omland Recreational Association. It is the good natural harbour that has made the island so popular. It lies in a small wedge shape, as if a wedge cut into the island. Løno is named after the wedge shape (“Lón” is the old Norwegian word name for “deep pool”).
