Installing nest boxes, artificial nests, and platforms is a well-established conservation practice supported by both science and experience. Across Europe and in Slovakia, such interventions have helped secure breeding sites for rare bird species that otherwise lack suitable natural options due to habitat loss or degradation.
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.
The international project LIFE PANALP is focusing on the return of grazing as a tool for nature protection. Together with its Hungarian partners, the Regional Association for Nature Conservation and Sustainable Development (BROZ) will focus on the protection of several species of endemic plants and rare animals.
Conservationists, hunters, farmers, beekeepers and non-state forest owners are calling for landscaping for nature and people. In the memorandum “For a Healthy Country”, they appeal to the Government of the Slovak Republic and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of the Slovak Republic appeal.
As part of the project, we are also carrying out genetic research, and at the same time we are strengthening localities where there are so few individuals and interbreeding would deffinetelly occur between them.
In July 2021, we met with our external monitor and project team in Ostrovné lúky for the last time. We checked the activities carried out since last year. We also had a look on wetlands, planted trees or extended pasture in Bodzianske Lúky. The project ended in May and we believe that the target species…