Eleven lapwing chicks die in Seefeld

Created: 05/28/2022, 08:27

The photo by Bund Naturschutz shows an adult bird attacking the fox on May 8 in Seefeld.

© Bund Naturschutz

Seefeld-Hechendorf – Also this year, no lapwing chick survived on the field in Seefeld.

The Bund Naturschutz (BN) therefore calls for the implementation of applicable law and, after the third year without a successful lapwing rearing, to adapt the lapwing protection measures in such a way that they contribute to successful breeding and rearing.

According to BN, on Friday, May 21, there was great unrest among the kibitzers below the Hechendorf train station.

The adults flew alarmingly, with loud excited cries, over the reeds and copse separating the field from the railway embankment.

From the following Saturday no young birds could be sighted, according to the BN in a press release.

The adult birds have also left the breeding area.

Fence repair disturbs rare lapwings

Since March 30, the six resident lapwings have been busy with the brood.

Two males and four females tried again in the breeding business and rearing the young in the traditional breeding area below the Hechendorf train station.

Two clutches were abandoned, one due to disruption from fence repairs.

A total of eleven young birds hatched from three clutches, and the first eggshells cracked on the first days of May.

"Lapwing young have to feed themselves and eat so much until they gain weight from 15 grams to 180 grams within 40 days and are therefore able to fly," says the BN.

Until then, they are at the mercy of big predators on the ground.

Lapwing family moves to the neighboring field

In Seefeld, an electric fence was set up to protect the young animals on a 1.2 hectare wasteland to keep out ground predators such as foxes and badgers.

However, since the fallow site was planted in the same spot for the second year, weeds grew too quickly and obscured the birds' view.

A lapwing family made its way to the neighboring field, which offered a better habitat with less growth and damp spots.

According to the BN, the second family also left when the electric fence was cut free by two workers with a brushcutter to keep the current flowing.

The BN had criticized the necessary maintenance of the fence within the field, "because this disturbs the birds massively".

However, the neighboring field was not secured with an electric fence and offers little distance to wood and reeds - "a perfect backdrop for ground predators, which can sneak up in the undergrowth without being able to be attacked by the adult birds".

In 2021, at least nine juvenile lapwings fell victim to predators

The young lives of a total of eleven lapwing juveniles ended in such an unprotected manner on Friday.

“This is the third total brood failure in a row.

At least nine young birds fell victim to predators last year, also due to poor fence management,” says the BN, which points out that the population decline of the lapwing in Germany between 1980 and 2016 was around 93 percent.

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“It is now important to provide quick help for the lapwing, a legally protected agricultural bird species.

Mandatory and functioning concepts and protective measures have so far not been wanted by politicians and are therefore not implemented by the authorities." According to the press release, the BN reserves the right to take legal action due to the renewed environmental damage.

BN's offers of talks on the subject have so far been rejected by the lawyer at the Lower Nature Conservation Authority in Starnberg.