Authors
Václav Beran, Kateřina Poledníková, Lukáš Poledník, Michal Porteš, Tomáš Růžička
Publisher
ALKA Wildlife, o.p.s.
Publishing year
This methodology was developed to plan and provide guidance on the implementation of basic management measures which can be carried out to support existing nesting populations of Northern wheatear, mainly in the open mining quarries of Krušne Hory, but also in smaller sites.
Due to specific demands on the environment, the Northern wheatear has disappeared from most of the Czech Republic over the last forty years with their numbers probably dropping by more than 60%. They are bound to open landscape with sparsely overgrown areas and low vegetation. They are also limited by the lack of nesting opportunities as they do not build their nests on the ground or in trees but in piles of stones, cracks in the ground or man-made cavities. Nowadays, it breeds almost exclusively in mining areas and has practically disappeared from the common agricultural landscape.
Due to the dramatic decline in the nesting population in the Czech Republic, most wheatear pairs now nest in the quarries of the Usti and Karlovy Vary regions. The population has a maximum of a hundred pairs which are heavily dependent on active mining.
The proposed measures are based on the results of many years of cooperation with mining companies and the detailed knowledge of the North Bohemian breeding population of wheatears. They can be directly used in practice in mining quarries yet many of the proposed measures are applicable for smaller sites. At the same time, they have been created to be as economical as possible and seek to minimise the negative impact on other species in mining areas.