The skylark symbolizes the dwindling biodiversity in the agricultural area. Once a common breeding bird, today it hardly finds any suitable habitat in intensively used Switzerland. A project in the Zurich wine region gives at least a little hope.
A masterful singer, but inconspicuous in appearance: thanks to the color of its plumage, the skylark is perfectly camouflaged.
There is still hope for the skylark in the fields of the Zurich wine region. Because here, in the region around Andelfingen, a trend that seemed almost unstoppable has been weakened in recent years. Populations of the species have been declining across Europe since the 1990s. In Switzerland, the development first affected the central plateau, but meanwhile there are fewer and fewer skylarks in the Jura and in the foothills of the Alps. In the canton of Zurich, for example, stocks fell by around 80 percent between 1988 and 2008. By 2017, Zurich’s population had fallen by another 54 percent.
Things are different in the Zurich wine region. The stocks are declining there too. In a canton-wide comparison, however, the decrease is moderate. Since 2008, the population here has shrunk by only 15 percent. The fact that Beatrice Peter from the Andelfingen nature conservation association sees this as a success shows how bad the Swiss skylark population is. “After all, thanks to intensive advice to farmers and many measures implemented in the fields, we were able to slow down the decline in the wine country.” But she also says: “We can’t really be satisfied with it yet.”
Once an everyday bird – today on the Red List
Up until a few decades ago, the skylark was still an everyday bird. Their stocks were considered innumerable because skylarks could be seen in practically every field and meadow. The species is now on the Red List of Threatened Birds. Nationwide, the stock has decreased by around 38 percent in the last 30 years. There are still around 25,000 to 30,000 breeding pairs, and the species is comparatively widespread. But the population densities are downright thinned out in many places. In the Central Plateau, for example, the density is about a tenth of that of 1990.
The gradual disappearance of the species began with the intensification of agriculture. As a bird that breeds in open landscapes – typically agricultural land in Europe – and nests on the ground, the species is highly dependent on management practices. The problem: The meadows are mowed so often a year these days that the time window between two cuts is too small for the skylark to build a nest in time and raise the young birds. Many skylark nests fall victim to the tractor. And this despite the fact that the female only needs twelve days to hatch the eggs and the young leave the nest after a further seven to twelve days.
The skylark is a ground breeder and in Switzerland prefers to build its nests in meadows and fields. Pictured: young skylarks.
In addition, crops such as barley or wheat are so dense today that larks can hardly land in them or build a nest. The search for food for the offspring, which the adult birds undertake on the ground, is often not possible in densely overgrown crops. Due to over-fertilization and pesticides, there is also a lack of insects.
False incentives in agricultural policy
The fact that the decline of the skylark in the Zurich Weinland could be slowed down is mainly due to the courageous commitment of the Andelfingen nature conservation association. With the help of a project launched in 2013, farmers there were made aware of the needs of farmland birds and thus motivated to implement specific measures for these species. For example, areas rich in insects, flowers and structures such as wildflowers were newly planted, the grain was sown at greater distances and so-called lark windows were created in the fields: small areas in which the farmers do not sow.
In order to promote the skylark, the existing populations would have to be stabilized, according to the nature conservation organization Birdlife Switzerland. This requires more high-quality biodiversity promotion areas and skylark-friendly cultivation of crops. Ecological compensation areas with native wild herbs, for example, or extensively cultivated meadows with a gap of at least seven weeks between the individual mowing dates would help to improve the situation.
However, although agricultural policy has moved in a more ecological direction in recent years, this has not changed much in the situation of most birds in the agricultural area. According to Stefan Bachmann, media spokesman at Birdlife Switzerland, the small steps taken so far are not enough. But he sees the main problem elsewhere: “The federal government continues to pour a lot of money into agriculture, which promotes and cements industrialization and intensification, while only a fraction of the funding goes into biodiversity.”
As a result, the areas reserved for biodiversity are far too small and of poor quality. In addition, there are many other unresolved grievances that have so far only been addressed hesitantly. “Roughly too many and increasingly toxic pesticides or too many nutrients due to over-fertilization,” says Bachmann. “Agricultural policy must change significantly overall and better support those farmers who work with nature instead of against it.” The stocks of many species that were once common in our cultural landscapes can only be preserved in the long term with the right incentives from an ecologically oriented agricultural policy.
New measures could turn the tide
This also explains why, even in the Zurich wine region, there has not yet been enough for a trend reversal in skylarks. Peter says that there is a need for gaps in the grain fields in the arable farming area and more measures to encourage insects, such as wildflowers.
After all, more could soon be done in the first point. For example, the Federal Council introduced a new biodiversity promotion measure for January 2023, which explicitly promotes wide seed rows in grain fields. From 2024, 3.5 percent of biodiversity promotion areas will also be required on arable land. It remains to be seen whether this will lead to the hoped-for trend reversal. According to Peter, the new measures also leave questions unanswered, such as whether the support areas would be created in the right place for the skylark. It is to be hoped that the new measures will have an effect and that the skylark will not also disappear in the wine country, “as has already happened in the Zurich Oberland, in the Knonauer Amt and in many other places in Switzerland”.