Caught Great Snipe female equipped with VHF transmitter..

One of the large breeding populations of the Great Snipe, a species is listed as Near Threatened, places in Belarus. Previous stages of the project allowed us to significantly extend field studies of the species, to develop the National Conservation Action Plan, to carry out pilot restoration of breeding habitats and also to ensure the same protected status of Great Snipe in the new edition of the Red Data Book (2015). Now loss of habitats through vegetation succession and land abandonment increases the negative impact on the breeding population, and further reduction of Great Snipe numbers occurs rapidly. Therefore extremely important to develop a proper management system for key breeding sites and to test management practices. During implementation of the new project we plan:

(1) to check results of pilot restoration of habitats in the Sporovo Reserve and to carry out the new restoration of key breeding site in the reserve which was determined during the last project using a new tractor with mill cutter

(2) to study distribution of females during breeding season in order to develop proper management of habitats

(3) to find the key breeding sites in Mogilev and Vitebsk regions for including theirs in Emerald Network in Belarus

(4) to help organization of the manual mowing championship in the fen mire of Sporovo Reserve in order to increase public awareness about conservation problem of rare species and their habitats

(5) to analyze collected data and publish its in mass media.