Meadow Birds
This location is part of the "Flora & Fauna in Pauwels" cycling route.
Throughout the Netherlands, meadow birds such as the godwit and the lapwing are doing poorly. This is mainly due to intensive agriculture, which has a much greater impact on the environment and nature than organic farming. By mowing early, nests of meadow birds are destroyed and even chicks are killed. Because the soil must be dry enough to support the heavy tractors, the water level on the farmland is lowered, so it is not moist enough for earthworms and other soil animals that the meadow birds actually live on. Also, spraying the pastures and fields with poison, leads to deaths of meadow birds. Also within the Pauwels estate and its surroundings, typical Dutch rural species such as the partridge and the lapwing are disappearing.
Luckily...
This location is part of the "Flora & Fauna in Pauwels" cycling route.
Throughout the Netherlands, meadow birds such as the godwit and the lapwing are doing poorly. This is mainly due to intensive agriculture, which has a much greater impact on the environment and nature than organic farming. By mowing early, nests of meadow birds are destroyed and even chicks are killed. Because the soil must be dry enough to support the heavy tractors, the water level on the farmland is lowered, so it is not moist enough for earthworms and other soil animals that the meadow birds actually live on. Also, spraying the pastures and fields with poison, leads to deaths of meadow birds. Within the Pauwels estate and its surroundings, typical Dutch countryside species such as the partridge and the lapwing are also disappearing.
Fortunately, awareness is growing that something must be done and more and more farmers are searching and marking nests before mowing so that they can mow around them or taking other measures to help the meadow birds.