European WILDLIFE

One of the rarest species of birds in Central Europe has returned to a large herbivore reserve located at the former military training area of Milovice near Prague. This year, scientists first observed the Eurasian hoopoe in grazing areas. “The bird was spotted repeatedly in the local pastures – sometimes even several times per day; during the previous three years, we did not encounter the creature at all in these places,” explained Miloslav Jirku from …

A military area, taken by occupation units after the Soviet forces invasion into the former Czechoslovakia on 21st August 1968, had various fates after the soldier’s departure in 1991. A former military area in Central Bohemian Milovice has come through a huge transformation. It has changed from the largest Soviet base in Czechoslovakia into a world unique reserve with wisent and wild horse herds.

The military training area in Milovice had a strategical meaning for …

For seven months, wild horses from Exmoor have been grazing at two natural sites in east Bohemia. At a site found on the outskirts of Hradec Kralove, horses help manage warm sandy habitats and reed beds of a local fish pond. In the Josefovske louky Bird Park (Josefov Meadows), they graze the local wet, waterlogged meadows. Conservationists are delighted that the results achieved so far are fantastic for both the natural system and the creatures …

Two and half years after the foundation of large herbivores reserve in a former military area in Milovice, not far from the capital city of the Czech Republic, Prague, the number of wisents has passed twenty individuals. Yesterday evening another two young animals were observed in the reserve for the first time. Currently the number of the wisents in the reserve has reached twenty-one individuals.

The number of animals has almost tripled since the reserve’s …

Two herds of wild horses from Exmoor in England have come today to Podyji National Park, close to the borders of the Czech Republic and Austria. The wild horses will help with the care of two unique localities in Podyjí National Park and protect them against aggressive kinds of grass and bush regrowth.

Eleven of the rare animals came in a special truck. “The wild horses are after the journey longer than 1,700 kilometres. We …