2018

A Record Number of Successful Nests has been Found in the Lesser Spotted Eagle Plots

In July, the monitoring of lesser spotted eagles coordinated by JSC "Latvia's State Forests" (LVM) will continue on five plots. Already 12 successful nests have been found in one of them.

"The work is not finished yet, but the results obtained at the Murmastiene plot are already indicative of a good nesting season for lesser spotted eagles. This is the largest number of successful nests that has been found in this plot in the history of the study that dates back to 1994. Nesting was that successful only in 1999," says Uģis Bergmanis, LVM Senior Environmental Expert.

"The number of successful nests is thanks to the sufficient amount of feed animals - frogs and common voles - in the respective year. It confirms the crucial role of the feed base in ensuring nesting success," the expert continues.

The search for nests is still ongoing and there is a possibility that new nests with babies will be found.

Monitoring is a biological data acquisition system consisting of two important elements: a common methodology and a lengthy period when bird observation is carried out. It helps to obtain information on important indicators: eagle's life expectancy, migration routes, wintering areas, as well as the size of the nesting area and the origin of the nesting eagles.

Since its foundation in 1999, Joint Stock Company "Latvia’s State Forests" implementing sustainable forest management has paid one billion euros to state and local government budgets. LVM's economic activities are carried out by maintaining and recovering forests, taking care of nature conservation, recreation opportunities and increasing timber volumes, as well as investing in expanding the forest land and developing forest infrastructure - renovation of drainage systems and forest road construction. The volume of timber in the forests managed by LVM increases by 12 million cubic metres annually.