Baltic Dunlin (Calidris alpina schinzii) is very faithful to its breeding sites, not easy to attract to resettle at former breeding sites. Most dunlins are looking for tundra habitats around the Arctic, but the Baltic dunlin chooses Baltic Sea shorelines for a ‘family raising’ project place. Now the nearby population at the Swedish coast near Malmö might have spread to the LIFE-BaltCoast project site Saltholm/ Denmark, the island in the Öresund just between Copenhagen and Malmö.
During a bird monitoring visit Mid May 2010 the ornithologists Henrik Haaning Nielsen and Jörgen Peter Kjeldsen observed the first territorial breeding pair of Baltic Dunlin since 2006. The Photo of Henrik Haaning Nielsen © shows a male to the right with shorter bill and brighter colours including obvious greyish neck-sides, and the female to the left with longer bill and more dull/ drab colours.
This is the best proof by ‘nature’ of the success and right direction of our activities on the project site Saltholm.
This huge island of 3000 ha in sight of the Öresund-bridge is owned by Saltholmsejerlaugert, the guild of owners of Saltholm, founded in the Middle Ages (for more click here: http://www.saltholmsejerlauget.dk/ )
The LIFE-BaltCoast project encourages the guild and their farmer to a more “Dunlin and Ruff-friendly” management of the grasslands and wetlands. The project facilitated the guild and the farmer with financial help from the EU (LIFE-funds) for infrastructure as shelter and fences. By this support the better management of whole year grazing together with specific mowing efforts on selected areas was now ‘approved’ by a first Dunlin breeding pair. Thanks a lot to the Guild of Saltholm and their farmer Markus Sørensen as cooperative and dedicated partners!
The right hand photos show above the Dunlin pair on Saltholm/Denmark (© Henrik Haaning Nielsen) and below a Dunlin on Öland/ Sweden (© P-G Bentz), A big thanks to both of you for providing these nice pictures.
Click here for the site description of project site 12, Saltholm /DK
Click here for a short introduction to the Baltic Dunlin (Calidris alpina schinzii)