In association with
RTV Drenthe
NOS News•today, 3:24 PM
In Drenthe, hunters help farmers to prevent birds, chicks and fawns from being injured or killed while mowing the grassland. With the help of drones they search the fields looking for the animals hidden in the grass.
The mowing season usually starts in May and June and farmers go onto the land to mow the grass. The breeding season runs around the same time, which means that many meadow birds, for example, have a nest in the tall grass. Many fawns and hares are also born on the grasslands.
The newborn animals and birds that have just hatched from the egg are therefore hidden in the tall grass and are often too young to flee. The animals are difficult to see for farmers who are mowing with their machines. Farmers, volunteers, bird conservationists and hunters have been active throughout the country for years to prevent as many mowing victims as possible. For example, for several years now a drone with a thermal camera has been used to locate the hidden animals.
Heat source
Although deer may be shot in Drenthe to prevent traffic collisions, hunters in the province are also committed to preventing calves from being injured or killed during mowing.
For example, Bjorn van der Veen of the Drenthe hunting association used a drone to search for game on a plot between Borger and Schoonloo this morning. “Yesterday we received a call from the farmer who wants to mow here. We mapped the plots and this morning I stood in a corner of the land,” he says to RTV Drenthe. The drone then flies off the plot itself. “If he sees a heat source, he sticks around. He marks all those places with a kind of pin on a map.”
To be able to do the work, the hunters have to start early, says Van der Veen. “If it is 25 degrees during the day, the contrast between the outside temperature and the temperature of the living animal is much smaller, which has a temperature of between 30 and 35 degrees. The earlier you start and if the night has been cold, the better highlight the dots in the land. This way we can indicate very accurately where a clutch, fawn or young hare is located.”
With the resulting card, people can enter the field to move the animals. “This morning we discovered three fawns and several duck and goose nests,” Van der Veen reflects. “We picked up the young fawns with a large tuft of grass and placed them in a safe place outside the plot. This way the animals will not smell of people. The contractor can now start mowing and the mother will collect the fawn later. on.”
Warn
But not all farmers are already using this technique, the hunter knows. “Unfortunately not yet. Farmers are always busy, a contractor wants to cut hectares and the weather is only suitable for mowing for a few days. That is why we ask farmers in the winter months if they would like to cooperate. If they can contact us one or two days before the mowing, or want to warn later in the season during the corn harvest. With our technology we can easily cover large areas, we can cover all fields in an hour.”
Farmers can also do something themselves to prevent the animals from ending up in the mower. For example, the old-fashioned method of placing sticks with garbage bags attached to the game is still effective, according to Van der Veen. “It rustles and makes noise. Then the deer goat comes at night to pick up the calf from the field.”
