The results of the 2025 breeding season came as a very welcome surprise. This year we recorded 38 territories and 36 breeding pairs, the highest number in the past quarter century! Thanks to systematic monitoring, we have now confirmed a positive trend in the number of breeding pairs for the fifth consecutive season. One of the most colourful birds in our landscape is making a remarkable comeback.
The key factor behind this reversal, much like in neighbouring Hungary, is the targeted support of nesting through specially designed nest boxes. These allow the European roller to return to sites where grazing already provides sufficient food, but where natural nesting opportunities are lacking.
We place these specially designed boxes at sites identified as suitable for the spread and recovery of the European roller, particularly in the Eastern Slovak Lowland. Hundreds have been installed over the past few decades, with more than 200 added in the last five years alone. Last year, with support from Nadácia VSE and the assistance of VSD, a further 70 boxes were installed on electricity pylons.
This year we observed a clear preference among rollers for pylon-mounted boxes, which offer better visibility and greater protection from predators.
Practical conservation efforts for the European roller are driven primarily by the LIFE 4 STEPPE BIRDS project, which enables the long-term conservation activities we carry out. Important support has also come from several foundations: Nadácia VSE contributed funding towards a portion of the installed boxes, while VSD handled their installation.
We also thank Nadácia ZSE for supporting the project “Spoznaj s nami vtáka roka krakľu belasú”, which allowed us to share this story throughout the year, and Nadácia Tipsport for their contribution to the running of our farm in Senné. The generous support of individual donors has also made a real difference. Thank you all.
Whether the European roller has a genuine chance of long-term survival in our agricultural landscape depends not only on the tireless enthusiasm of conservationists and the financial support of donors, but above all on the enlightened approach of farmers and, crucially, the state, which sets the rules governing how financial support is distributed to farmers through subsidies. We will therefore support our ministry’s calls to the European Commission for adequate support for Slovak farmers under the new Common Agricultural Policy. With insufficient support, extensive livestock grazing, which is among the less economically attractive forms of land management yet carries enormous importance for biodiversity, is always the most vulnerable.
LIFE21-NAT-SK-LIFE 4 STEPPE BIRDS “Protection and Return of Steppe Bird Species to the Lowlands of Slovakia”. The project is co-financed by the European Union.