By Susan
Misicka in Sempach
THIS CONTENT WAS PUBLISHED ON
AUGUST 9, 2018 11:00 AM AUG 9, 2018 - 11:00
If you’re a crested tit in the
woods, Switzerland is a great place to live. But if you’re a skylark you’re in
trouble – mainly because of intense farming. The Swiss Ornithological Institute
wants to improve habitats for all birds.
“It’s too tidy here; we get rid
of small stones, trees and hedges because we don’t like to ‘waste’ any land,”
says Sophie Jaquier, a biologist at the Swiss Ornithological Institute external
link. She’s referring to Switzerland’s limited space for
settlements, industry and agriculture. In addition to reducing the living area
for birds that nest near the ground, this means less breeding ground for
insects – essential for the diets of most birds. The use of pesticides and also
herbicides is making it worse. “Insects need these ‘weeds’,” points out
Jaquier.
And while Swiss woodland birds
are doing well thanks to growing forests and deadwood, species that live in
agricultural zones are losing out.
“Skylarks, for example, breed on
the ground, and they like medium-high, medium-dense vegetation,” says Jaquier
of the brown songbirds whose numbers have plummeted by a third since 1990.
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