Managing and monitoring birds in Bohemia

Changes and threats

Location map of Orlické Záhoří

Political changes can have environmental repercussions. Upon the Czech Republic's accession to the European Union in 2004, it started implementing the EU Birds Directive and some 41 sites were proposed as Special Protection Areas (SPAs). One of these was Orlické Záhoří in eastern Bohemia near the border with Poland. This 904 hectare (2000 acre) area of grasslands and marshes is part of the Orlické Hořy ("Eagle Mountains") Protected Landscape Area. Although these flood-plain meadows and wetlands were badly affected by a drainage scheme in the 1970s intended to create cattle and sheep pastures, the Orlické Záhoří area is still important for birds, holding important populations of Corncrake Crex crex and Red-backed Shrike Lanius collurio, both of which are priority species under the Birds Directive.

Yet new threats to the Orlické Záhoří site exist. The area is under threat from a growing tourist industry that seeks to build new ski slopes and resorts as well as from other developments such as a proposed new border crossing. Corncrake populations in particular are threatened by extensive animal grazing during the breeding period and by predation by foxes, wild pigs and wild cats. Agricultural "improvement" poses further threats.

Managing the sites

Plans to restore the Orlické Záhoří site for wildlife are under way. The drainage system that damaged the meadows in the 1970s has fallen into disrepair allowing the possibility of returning the meadows and marshes to their original character. To encourage farmers to restore the area’s wildlife value A Rocha has provided recommendations to local farmers and to Orlické Mountains for the protection, improvement or creation of new nesting habitats. These include where to fence nesting areas to protect breeding birds from livestock trampling, identification of new wetland areas for Corn Crake and Common Snipe, and locating suitable sites for tree and hedgerow planting to encourage Red-backed Shrikes.

In 2004 A Rocha Czech entered into partnership with the Czech Ornithological Society to be part of the long-term monitoring of the birds of Orlické Záhoří and ensure that the restoration measures are producing the desired effects.

Watching birds at Orlické Záhoří

The project contains four key components:

Estimations of Corncrake numbers in defined sectors both within the Orlické Záhoří SPA and outside. These are conducted through twice-weekly nocturnal visits during the period of highest breeding activity. Each Corncrake call is plotted on a 1:10,000 map. In addition, birds are caught and ringed in order to determine the movement of individual birds during, and after, the nesting period.
Monitoring and ringing of Red-backed Shrikes to define their breeding areas within the Orlické Záhoří SPA.
Regular monitoring along a transect line using methods already applied within the Eagle Mountains protected area. This allows observations to be made on other priority species such as Black Stork, Eagle Owl, Pygmy Owl, Tengmalm's Owl, Grey Woodpecker, Black Woodpecker and Red-breasted Flycatcher.
A ringing program involving 26 continuously studied sites to look at the structure and dynamics of the bird populations, their success at breeding, the availability of food and their behaviour during migration.

In addition to the extensive spring and summer research programme, A Rocha and other collaborating ornithologists have met since 2004 in the last weeks of May and June for field work in the SPA, and for lectures and bird ringing demonstrations for their members, students and other visitors. This long-term research project is funded by A Rocha Czech and the Czech Ornithological Society.

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Project leaders: Miloslav Hromádko, Kamil Cihák and Pavel Svetlik. For further information please contact czech@arocha.org

Partners: Czech Ornithological Society, BirdLife International, local landowners