Good practices for management of open spaces in forests and agricultural land
The food diet of the Lesser Spotted Eagle is dominated by:
%
voles
%
birds
%
hedgehogs
%
snakes
%
rodents and others
The abundance of these species in the diet around the Lesser Spotted Eagle nesting sites determines the nesting success and species conservation. Optimising, maintaining and effectively managing the habitats of the species on which the Lesser Spotted Eagle feeds, i.e. its foraging habitats, is of key importance for its survival. Lesser Spotted Eagle foraging habitats are highly heterogeneous.
They include mosaics of open spaces (pastures, meadows, forest glades, etc.), arable lands, forest strips, shrub formations, etc. Landscape elements such as combination of single and groups of mosaically or linearly arranged shrub or tree-shrub formations, transitional tree-shrub vegetation, field boundary strips, rocks, stone fences, etc., are of key importance for the survival and abundance of species that serve as food for the Lesser Spotted Eagle.
Through this project activity, we aim to:
minimize and prevent
threats to Lesser Spotted Eagle foraging habitat and its prey;
restore and maintain
these habitats by promoting and directly implementing beneficial models and practices.
These models and practices include:
restoration
of the structure of abandoned (overgrown) grassland communities;
conversion
of arable lands near active nests of the species to pasture and/or implementation of favourable crop rotation schemes;
restoration
of shrub vegetation to a structure and quantity that meets the requirements of the species that are part of the Lesser Spotted Eagle’s food die
encouraging
rotational grazing and its effective management, using electric fencing, to avoid overgrazing and disturbance of the soil structure;
improving
the food base of the species that the Lesser Spotted Eagle hun
The activity includes two main approaches:
1. Active involvement, personal communication, motivation, and consultation of stakeholder representatives (farmers and foresters managing agricultural land and forests near active nests) in order to plan and implement the necessary conservation measures.
Through the implementation of this approach, we aim to manage about 450 ha of land representing priority foraging habitats of the Lesser Spotted Eagle.
2. Direct implementation and pilot testing of priority measures. Within this approach, specific conservation actions consistent with the risk assessment of negative impacts on the identified pairs and their breeding territories are implemented.
The goal is to prevent and minimize identified threats and impacts to the identified Lesser Spotted Eagle pairs. In addition, we are testing practices to improve the foraging habitat and abundance of the species’ primary prey at specific foraging locations. By implementing the approach, we aim to manage 50 ha of open space located in key foraging habitats.