Montagu's harrier (Circus pygargus) - nest protection

Pepík, a member of our association, has been working for many years on the conservation of the Montagu's harrier. Every year he saves around ten pairs of endangered mowers and predators by fencing them. Protection, i.e. searching and fencing of nests is carried out in the districts of Příbram, Beroun, Rakovník, Benešov, Tábor and Jindřichův Hradec.
The year 2021 is a very bad year for the breeding of Montagu's harrier. The cold spring, very rainy weather and especially the collapse of the vole population are the main reasons for only sporadic nesting at the local sites and most of them are still very unsuccessful.
In this video, Pepík and I went to fence a nest in Sedlčany, which Pepík had tracked down two days before.
This kind of nest protection is done to prevent predation by mostly wild boars, but also foxes and others, and also as a warning to farmers when harvesting grain. This is of course arranged in advance with the farmer.
Due to the lack of food this year, there was only one chick in the nest, which Pepik put an ornithological ring on, and the chick was put back in the nest. It is necessary to hammer the brought pegs around the nest and attach protective mesh to them. Throw grain against the mesh and bend the mesh outwards at the top so that it cannot be climbed over. And that's it. Now there's nothing to do but keep your fingers crossed.
Oh, and lest I forget. On the way back, we need to mask the way we came in.
#Ornithology​​ #Wildlife​​ #Birds​

[@alenamatejkova4256]

Pánové smekám a děkuji za vaší obětavost, obsáhlé informace ... Díky a přeji hezký den Ahoj 🍀🤗🍀👍👍👍

[@SpolekDobris]

Děkujeme 🙂 A ve spolku makají i holky 😉 www.spolekdobris.cz/nas-tym/

[@NatureBelgium]

Great capture ! Thanks for sharing !

[@SpolekDobris]

Thank you.