OSPREYS HAVE NESTED IN MIĘDZYCHÓD FOREST DISTRICT

Already this year, six pairs of ospreys have nested in the area of RDSF in Szczecin and Zielona Góra. These are the effects of a project conducted by foresters and Regional Directorate of Environmental Protection (RDOŚ) in Gorzów Wielkopolski.
02.06.2017

Already this year, six pairs of ospreys have nested in the area of RDSF in Szczecin and Zielona Góra. These are the effects of a project conducted by foresters and Regional Directorate of Environmental Protection (RDOŚ) in Gorzów Wielkopolski.

The active osprey protection programme involves 17 forest districts from two regional directorates of the SF, in Zielona Góra and Szczecin, and also Regional Directorate of Environmental Protection in Gorzów Wielkopolski.

The activities started in 2012 and since then foresters together with RDOŚ in Gorzów Wielkopolski have built 50 artificial nests on trees.

Michał Bielewicz from Protection of Environment and Natura 2000 Areas Department from RDOŚ in Gorzów Wielkopolski explains why this project is conducted within the area of the Lubuskie province: ‘300 pairs of ospreys are nesting just right across Polish border, in the Brandenburg province. We want some of those young birds to nest on Polish side of the Oder river’.

This year there are six pairs of birds living on built platforms and in two other locations there are only males. Last year there were only three pairs in nests, which much surprised people engaged in the project because two years earlier there were twice as much inhabited nests.

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This season ospreys inhabited nests in Międzyrzecz, Lubniewice, Cybinka, Trzciel i Międzychód forest districts. In the forest district mentioned last, the birds have nestled for the first time. The pair chose one out of four locations. We don't know yet how many chickens there are in the nest. We'll find out at the end of August when young birds will be flying around the nest.

Mainly young pairs have inhabited nests. ‘They frequently inhabited nests at the end of May. This year they must be testing the area:if it suits them they will return next season for sure’ says Michał Bielewicz.

In the following years RDOŚ in Gorzów Wielkopolski plans to start the construction of platforms on electricity poles.

Joint project of two regional directorates of the SF and RDOŚ is not the only activity conducted by the State Forests towards the active protection of this Accipitriformes species. A four-year osprey protection project within selected Natura 2000 areas has been launched this year. This is a joint activity conducted by the State Forests and the Eagle Protection Committee.  

The State Forests have been streaming live the view on the osprey's nest located in Lipka Forest District since 2014.

Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) is one of the rarest Accipitriformes species in Poland. The population in our country amounts to 27 pairs. There are about 650 pairs living in Germany and over 4000 pairs on the other side of the Baltic Sea.

This bird, by virtue of Polish law, is under strict protection, requires active conservation and around its nests protection zones are marked. The species can be found in The Polish Red Data Book of Animals and the Appendix to the Birds Directive, therefore it is a subject of specific protection measures throughout the UE.

Undoubtedly, the main reason for disappearing osprey sites is the degradation of its preying area caused by increased tourist traffic and the development of recreational infrastructure around water reservoirs and also their pollution.