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Description
The project is focused on ensuring safe nesting grounds for the Saker (Falco cherrug) in the agricultural landscape of southern and central Moravia and lower Poohří and monitoring the effectiveness of this measure using photo traps. The Saker, which was listed by the IUCN among globally endangered species in 2012, has still not received systematic support in the CZ. Since 2015, the number of nesting pairs has dropped significantly to 2 to 5 nesting pairs. The project aims to implement selected measures that can stabilize our population - to create a safe nesting platforms in the areas of the distribution of Saker in the CZ. Its implementation will fulfill the Global action plan for Saker (Saker GAP), AP and other strategic documents. The CZ, as one of the few European countries, does not take care of Saker beyond the basic protection. AP is to ensure the implementation of very demanding measures (change of agricultural management, securing dangerous medium voltage pylons, etc.), which must be implemented in direct cooperation with the MZP or AOPK CR. On the contrary, the installation of safe nesting opportunities and their cleaning can be implemented once under this subsidy title and thus stabilize our population until major habitat and other measures are implemented. Soon could be too late for Saker.
Summary of project results
The project was focused on ensuring safe nesting grounds for the Saker (Falco cherrug) in the agricultural landscape of southern and central Moravia and lower Poohří. The Saker, which was listed by the IUCN among globally endangered species in 2012, has still not received systematic support in the CZ. The Saker falcon Action plan in the CZ (AP), which was prepared from Norwegian grants in 2017, has still not been approved by the Ministry of the Environment (MZP) and the necessary measures for the protection of the species are not being implemented. Since 2015, the number of nesting pairs has dropped significantly to 2 to 5 nesting pairs. The project aimed to ensure the installation of 100 safe breeding platforms on very high voltage poles in the agricultural landscape of the Czech republic.
100 breeding platforms Saker falcon were installed on very high voltage poles in the agricultural landscape of the Czech Republic. This has minimized one of the risk factors that threatens the critically endangered Saker falcon in the Czech Republic. At the same time, a long-term functional cooperation with ČEPS - the owner of the distribution network - has been set up to protect the Saker falon. This measure supports the biodiversity of the agricultural landscape, targets not only the critically endangered Saker falcon but also other raptor species of the agricultural landscape and thus helps to maintain at least some raptor populations in intensively managed agricultural landscapes.
In 2024, the year following the installation, three pairs of Saker falcon nested on the platforms. In total, four pairs have been documented to have nested in the country. The last pair also nested on a very high voltage pole, but in a Raven nest outside of the traditional range and therefore outside of the area of breeding platform installation. Media coverage of the project helped to raise public awareness of this critically endangered raptor species. Unintended results include the cooperation between the Ústí nad Labem Town Museum and ČEPS. Beyond ensuring the sustainability of the project, there has been an intensified cooperation that targets not only the Saker falcon, but also biodiversity in the vicinity of the very high voltage lines. Thanks to this cooperation a project from the ČEPS Foundation is likely to be implemented as early as 2024.
The aim was to support the population of the Saker falcon, which is teetering on the brink of extinction in the Czech Republic. Our effort was to minimize at least one risk factor for this species, namely the lack of nesting opportunities in the agricultural landscape. The installed breeding platforms are long lasting (decades), do not necessarily require regular maintenance (only periodic cleaning after nesting is appropriate) and therefore this measure is likely to have a long-term effect. The protection of the Saker falcon has also been significantly improved by establishing intensive cooperation with the transmission system owner, CEPS. This means that breeding pairs nesting on high voltage poles will not be disturbed and further measures to promote biodiversity are likely to be implemented in the coming years, either directly on or around very high voltage poles.