Management for the River Sandpiper ( Riparia riparia).

River Sand ( Riparia riparia) is a small species of the celandine family. At first glance, it may resemble the white-tailed warbler to the layman, but it occurs in cities and urban areas of municipalities, unlike the sandpiper, which inhabits habitats near a larger body of water. These can be gravel pits, lakes or even the beds of large rivers. In the past, there were several nesting colonies in the area of competence of the Veľká Fatra National Park Administration. However, most of them have completely disappeared, as the perpendicular walls that the sand martins use for nesting over time are successively overgrown mainly with ruderal vegetation and in later stages also with shrubs. In this case, the martins cannot dig a nest burrow and have to leave the site permanently. When you were one of the largest colonies in the cadastral area. Turian near Drevina. It was due to the influence of succession that it completely disappeared. Therefore, we selected a new location a few km away, which could be gradually colonized by sandpipers. In addition to the river shearwater, the prepared nesting wall can also be inhabited by the gradually spreading golden bee-eater (Merops apiaster). So far, we have had only one stable nesting colony of bee-eaters in Turiec. With the gradual warming and improvement of the food base of this species , small local colonies appear in other places that need active management in order to create a stable population. In addition to the management of the nesting wall, which meets the topical requirements of these species, the trophic aspect is of course very important. We created the nesting wall near the old riverbed of the Váh River so that it also meets the trophic requirements of the species. The Váh River itself and its surroundings offer a large amount of food in the form of hymenopteran insects. You can see a short report from the construction of the nesting wall on the Facebook profile with the rights of theVeľká Fatra National Park.

Nesting management of this species requires the removal of self-seeded trees and vegetation and the creation of a vertical wall in the sandy terrain with heavy equipment so that the site does not have to be interfered with for several years. In order to further increase the attractiveness of the nesting wall and to allow it to be colonized by shorebirds or bee-eaters during the spring migration, it is advisable to pre-drill their nesting burrows artificially. Sand martins will welcome this as it will significantly facilitate their time for building burrows and they will trust the newly created site more, as it gives the impression that sand martins have already successfully nested in the nesting wall in the past.

The administration of the Veľká Fatra National Park is preparing an opportunity for the public to observe life in such a nesting colony. However, it will not be until next spring.

We would like to thank the owner of the land – Urbaro and the pasture land community Nolčovo for agreeing to carry out this management.

The location before the management intervention itself.