The European ground squirrels are animals that live in large groups. In ideal conditions, they will grow to several thousand members and gradually colonise the surrounding landscape, provided it is suitable and there is low vegetation – grassland, or mown lawns or meadows.
In order to be able to implement targeted conservation measures for the protection and conservation of endangered butterfly species, it is necessary to know as many locations of these species and their host plants as possible at the current time. We are turning to you – nature lovers, who would like to help us with butterfly mapping.
Last year, we managed to successfully collect €100,000 to save a wetlands, launch several projects, release sturgeons into the Danube, restore grazing in several locations and even change the name, logo and visual identity.
Competition for water is high in the Danubian Lowland, especially during spring and summer. During those seasons, the water from the melioration canals is used to irrigate the surrounding fields.
We continued with the monitoring of amphibians at the locations of Dobrohošť, Kráľovská lúka, Bakanské rameno and its surroundings, Istragov and Dedinské ostrovy.
It is not any news that the largest population of ground squirrels in Slovakia lives at the Bratislava airport. Well, these squirrels naturally also run into the open countryside from there, and the mowed grass meadows between the technical buildings provide them good living space.
This is also the reality of a cliamte change. Ground squirrels wake up every year in the middle to the end of March, which is about a month from now. This year, several localities report us that they have woken up and have already moved through their burrows, which means they have been awake for about a week.
We invite you to see the photos of ground squirrels by the famous Hungarian photographer Maté Bence.
National Nature Reserve Apálsky ostrov with 5th the highest degree of protection represents one of the exceptional and rare project sites of BROZ. This area with surface of 85.97 ha was declared in 1954 to ensure the protection of unique communities of willow-poplar floodplain forest.
Intensive farming on large areas literally erased life from the country. This is largely due to a poorly designed agricultural policy that encourages intensive farming, which creates a huge burden on the environment. Variety disappears from the rural landscape and with it also birdsong, butterflies and pollinators. If we lose the natural diversity of the landscape, we will also lose its health and resilience.