Three years ago, angry farmers marched on the provincial government. They were angry because the Frisian provincial government wanted to oblige farmers to check the land for nests and chicks in the spring, prior to work.
They got their way. The commandment was weakened to an ‘obligation to make efforts’. The obligation to map nests and chicks was abolished, agricultural organizations promised that they would inform farmers and contractors about working in a fauna-friendly manner, and everything was written down in a voluntary ‘agreement framework’ that will be evaluated this year.
This does not alter the fact that, with the entry into force of the new Environmental Act, it is simply prohibited by law to disturb and destroy nests. Employees of Fumo, the Frisian environmental agency, drive through the province, speak to workers and ask whether the meadow birds are being taken into account during mowing, manure and plowing work.
Suddenly things go wrong
About the current practice, Fumo says that “it often goes well for a long time, but then suddenly everything has to be mowed in a few days and things go wrong.” The service said in a statement: ‘Then there is pressure due to the weather, for example, and there is not enough time to sufficiently take the meadow birds into account. And sometimes it is difficult to make good agreements with aftercare providers. They just have to have time when the agricultural work is being carried out.’
To make it easier to check, Fumo has been requesting dot maps from the Association of Frisian Bird Watchers (BFVW) for years, also via the province. These maps, which are kept by bird watchers, show exactly where nests are located in which country, so that the service knows better where to go.
Fear of breach of trust
But in an internal letter, which came into the hands of Omrop Fryslân, the BFVW advises bird watchers not to hand over the dot cards to the Fumo. The law enforcement officers only receive old maps from one or two years ago.
When asked, policy officer Henk de Jong of the BFVW says that bird watchers and farmers work together on the basis of trust. According to the association, this bond of trust can be damaged if the Fumo and the BFVW work together.
Everything revolves around communication, says chairman Albert van der Ploeg of Boerennatuur Fryslan. And sometimes an intervention by the Fumo puts things under tension. “The Fumo has fined two security guards because they have no ID card with them. That kind of joking just doesn’t help.”
Hardly ‘red-handed’
Yet he acknowledges that the environmental service generally addresses farmers “just politely”. “And we white all gear ek wool, that farmers who mow the Ural Trochhinne, were to be taken.”
But it never actually gets to that point. Four years ago, a Fumo employee said that ‘red-handed acts’ were almost impossible to detect. “We are always on the side of a plot. When the grass is high, you never see it when a chick disappears under the mower.”
In the meantime, it has been established that whoever is working in the field is responsible for the meadow and field birds. Or as the Fumo writes: ‘The farmer may be the client, but the contractor has just as many obligations towards the birds under the legislation as the farmer himself.’
Tags: Meadow birds law practice Mowing nests chicks pieces prohibited chance caught tiny
