South Moravia lies hundreds of kilometres from the sea, yet a few of its meadows are salty enough for plants you would otherwise expect on a coast.
Inland salt marshes are among the rarest habitats in Czechia. They form only where three things come together – salt in the ground, a dry climate and regular disturbance – and the plants and animals living there are specialists that could not survive on an ordinary meadow.
Salty pastures were once scattered across the South Moravian lowlands, from the Znojmo area to the surroundings of Čejč. Most have since been ploughed, drained or left to overgrow, and only small fragments remain.
Pannonian sea aster (Tripolium pannonicum) in flower at Slanisko Dobré Pole. Once common in South Moravia, it declined as its habitats disappeared and grazing came to an end. Today it survives at just two sites near Mikulov: Slanisko Dobré Pole and Slanisko u Nesytu. Source: e-Věstník 03/2014, Pálava PLA Administration and Brno Regional Office, AOPK ČR. Photo: Nina Babicová
How salt marshes form
Four stages – scroll to follow them.
1
Salt locked in ancient clay
The meadows sit on clays deposited in the Tertiary period, which contain soluble salts – mainly sulphates and chlorides.
2
Water with nowhere to go
Clay is almost impermeable, so groundwater stays close to the surface and slowly dissolves the salts out of the clay.
3
Evaporation brings the salt up
For at least part of the year, evaporation exceeds rainfall. Salty water rises through the soil, evaporates at the surface and leaves its salt behind.
4
Hooves keep it open
Grazing animals – ideally horses – compact the soil, which helps the salty water reach the surface. They also keep the sward short, so salt-tolerant plants are not shaded out.
Simplified diagram, not to scale. Source: AOPK ČR – NPR Slanisko u Nesytu (palava.aopk.gov.cz).
What salt marshes need
Salty soil, water levels that rise and fall, and short, open vegetation maintained by grazing or mowing. Once grazing ends, reed, tall grasses and shrubs move in and the specialists vanish.
II
LIFE in Salt Marshes
Seven years, 2023–2029, to restore more than 500 hectares of protected wetlands and salt marshes in South Moravia.
Our aims
The project is re-establishing long-term care at ten wetland sites of European importance. It aims to keep the landscape open, push back invasive and expansive plants and improve conditions for protected species – above all by bringing grazing back to the sites.
Who is involved
The project is coordinated by Masaryk University (ENVIROP, Department of Botany and Zoology) in partnership with the South Moravian branch of the Czech Society for Ornithology, the Research Institute for Soil and Water Conservation (VÚMOP) and World from Space. The sites are cared for by the project team together with local farmers, whose animals graze there, and with help from municipalities and volunteers – so that the care can continue long after the project ends.
Sites are numbered from west to east. Scroll to fly from one to the next, or pick a site on the map or in the list.
1
Vrbovecký rybník
A pond by the village of Vrbovec near Znojmo, ringed by extensive reedbeds and meadows. Patches of inland salt meadow survive on its banks. Fire-bellied toads (Bombina bombina) breed here, and garganeys (Spatula querquedula) stop over on migration.
A marsh with pools among the fields near the village of Hevlín, close to the Austrian border, on the site of a former system of small fishponds. Ten amphibian species live here, among them the fire-bellied toad (Bombina bombina), and little bitterns (Ixobrychus minutus), marsh harriers (Circus aeruginosus) and water rails (Rallus aquaticus) nest in the reeds.
Site area
13.5 ha
Cadastral area
Hevlín, Znojmo district
Grazed by
CattleGoatsWater buffalo
Species from this story
Common redshank Tringa totanusNorthern lapwing Vanellus vanellusGrass snake Natrix natrix
Drone photo: Antonín Zajíček
3
Trávní dvůr
By far the largest site: ash and alder floodplain forest in the Dyje lowland, with wet meadows, reedbeds and shallow pools. Fire-bellied toads (Bombina bombina) breed here, the scarlet flat bark beetle (Cucujus cinnaberinus) lives in dead wood, and grey herons (Ardea cinerea) nest in an unusual colony far from open water.
A small salt marsh on the edge of the village of Novosedly, with pools, willow scrub and old pollarded willows. It is the last Czech site with a sizeable population of the critically endangered swamp pricklegrass (Crypsis schoenoides); greater sea-spurrey (Spergularia maritima) grows here too, and European tree frogs (Hyla arborea) call from the pools.
A small salt marsh in a shallow hollow by the village of Dobré Pole – one of the last two places in Czechia where the Pannonian sea aster (Tripolium pannonicum) still grows. Salt meadows with distant alkali grass (Puccinellia distans) are recovering here under grazing.
“Husí pastviště” (the goose pasture) is the project’s working name for a shore meadow on the middle Nové Mlýny reservoir, in a bird area known for tens of thousands of wintering geese, among them the greater white-fronted goose (Anser albifrons). Water buffalo are opening up the reedbeds here, uncovering salt meadow and sunlit shallow pools.
Site area
6.7 ha
Cadastral area
Pouzdřany, Břeclav district
Grazed by
Water buffalo
Species from this story
Grass snake Natrix natrix
Drone photo: Antonín Zajíček
7
Trkmanské louky
Wet, slightly salty meadows near Rakvice with sedge and reed stands. They hold one of the two Czech populations of the yellow-spined thistle (Cirsium brachycephalum), a Pannonian endemic at the north-western edge of its range, together with rye sedge (Carex secalina).
Shallow pools, reeds, pastures and salt meadows in the Trkmanka floodplain near Rakvice – at almost 7 ha, the largest salt meadow of all the project sites. Yellow-spined thistle (Cirsium brachycephalum), brookweed (Samolus valerandi) and marsh mallow (Althaea officinalis) grow here, and fire-bellied toads (Bombina bombina) breed in the pools.
Site area
44.8 ha
Cadastral area
Rakvice, Břeclav district
Grazed by
Hungarian steppe cattle
Species from this story
Common redshank Tringa totanusSteppe wolf spider Lycosa singoriensisGrass snake Natrix natrixYellow-spined thistle Cirsium brachycephalumSwamp pricklegrass Crypsis schoenoides
Drone photo: Antonín Zajíček
9
Kosteliska
Kosteliska is the project’s working name for the bird park of the same name by the Kyjovka river, on the edge of the Hodonín oak woods (Hodonínská doubrava). Grazing keeps its wet meadows, pools and reeds open for waders and Danube newts (Triturus dobrogicus), and a rare population of the Aesculapian snake (Zamenis longissimus) lives here.
Site area
11.6 ha
Cadastral area
Dubňany, Hodonín district
Grazed by
Water buffaloCattleHorses
Species from this story
Common redshank Tringa totanusSteppe wolf spider Lycosa singoriensisGrass snake Natrix natrix
Drone photo: Antonín Zajíček
10
Vypálenky
Wet meadows and a chain of shallow pools in the Morava floodplain by Moravský Písek. Salt-tolerant strawberry clover (Trifolium fragiferum) grows at the margins, and fire-bellied toads (Bombina bombina) and Danube newts (Triturus dobrogicus) breed in the pools.
Site area
66.9 ha
Cadastral area
Moravský Písek, Hodonín district
Grazed by
Hungarian steppe cattle
Species from this story
Grass snake Natrix natrix
Drone photo: Antonín Zajíček
IV
Who lives here
Nine species that reveal what salt marshes and wet meadows need. Not all are official project targets, but every one of them depends on the kind of care the project is restoring.
Animals
CR
Common redshank
Tringa totanus
“You can’t miss my red legs – and you’ll hear me too. When something comes near, I’m the first to raise the alarm.”
More about this speciesShow less
A striking wader with long red legs that nests on wet meadows and low marshes.
What it needs
Open ground with short vegetation, shallow water and a clear view all round. One of the project’s target bird species.
Czech Red List
critically endangered (CR)
Legal protection
critically endangered
Found at
Kosteliska
Trkmanec-Rybníčky
Hevlínské jezero
Photo: Jiří Bohdal
Steppe wolf spider
Lycosa singoriensis
“Don’t look for a web – I don’t spin one. I sit at the mouth of my burrow and wait. When prey comes close, I dash out.”
More about this speciesShow less
One of the largest spiders in Central Europe. It digs a burrow in which it hides, ambushes prey and guards its eggs.
What it needs
Sunny, open ground with sparse vegetation – for this spider the bare soil surface matters as much as the plants and the water.
Czech Red List
not assessed
Legal protection
not protected
Found at
Trkmanec-Rybníčky
Kosteliska
Photo: Magnific (stock)
VU
Northern lapwing
Vanellus vanellus
“My chicks leave the nest within hours of hatching, so they need open ground that isn’t overgrown, where they can run. Come too close, and I’ll chase you off.”
More about this speciesShow less
A crested bird that feeds and nests on the ground in open meadows, fields and wetlands.
What it needs
Low, open vegetation with a clear view. Not a project target, but it shows why wet meadows must not all be allowed to grow over.
Czech Red List
vulnerable (VU)
Legal protection
not protected
Found at
Hevlínské jezero
Vrbovecký rybník
Photo: Lubomír Hlásek
NT
Grass snake
Natrix natrix
“I’m at home in the water, but I also love to bask in the sun. And don’t worry – I’m not venomous!”
More about this speciesShow less
A snake of pools and ponds, easily recognised by the pale crescents behind its head. A strong swimmer, it feeds mainly on amphibians.
What it needs
Pools rich in prey, dry sunny spots for basking and safe shelter nearby – a species that links water and land.
Czech Red List
near threatened (NT)
Legal protection
endangered
Found at
Slanisko Dobré Pole
Slanisko Novosedly
Kosteliska
Trkmanec-Rybníčky
Vypálenky
Husí pastviště
Vrbovecký rybník
Hevlínské jezero
Trávní dvůr
Photo: Marie Kotasová Adámková
Large copper
Lycaena dispar
“When the sun shines, my orange wings glow like a little flame. Look for me on open meadows and around wetlands.”
More about this speciesShow less
A butterfly with vivid orange wings, listed as a species of European importance. Project monitoring has confirmed it at several sites.
What it needs
Varied wet meadows without an unbroken cover of tall vegetation. Patchy grazing and mowing help.
Czech Red List
not listed
Legal protection
highly endangered; species of European importance (Natura 2000)
Found at
Slanisko Dobré Pole
Slanisko Novosedly
Trávní dvůr
Vrbovecký rybník
Photo: Marie Kotasová Adámková
VU
Slender green-winged grasshopper
Aiolopus thalassinus
“On bare, salty ground my green and brown colours make me almost invisible. Where the grass grows tall and dense, there is no place for me.”
More about this speciesShow less
A rare grasshopper of salt marshes, recognisable by the red shins of its hind legs.
What it needs
Bare, salty ground with low, sparse vegetation – of the six animals, the one most closely tied to salt marshes. At Slanisko Dobré Pole it lives where the sward stays low and salt-tolerant plants are not crowded out by tall grass.
Czech Red List
vulnerable (VU)
Legal protection
not protected
Found at
Slanisko Dobré Pole
Photo: Josef Hlásek
Plants
CR
Yellow-spined thistle
Cirsium brachycephalum
“My cousins, the common thistles, grow almost everywhere – along roads and in fields. In Czechia I grow in just two places, and both are near Rakvice.”
More about this speciesShow less
A sturdy, spiny plant with pink flowers that grows on heavy, salty soils flooded for at least part of the year, flowering from summer into early autumn. A Pannonian endemic, it reaches the north-western edge of its range in South Moravia and grows at only two Czech sites, both near Rakvice.
What it needs
Salty soil, seasonal flooding and regular disturbance. If the water regime changes or management stops, dense reed, sedges and rushes crowd it out.
Czech Red List
critically endangered (CR)
Legal protection
critically endangered; species of European importance (Natura 2000)
Found at
Trkmanec-Rybníčky
Trkmanské louky
Photo: Marie Kotasová Adámková
CR
Sea milkwort
Lysimachia maritima
“Look closely – I have no petals. What looks like a tiny pink flower is my sepals. And where I grow, the salt marsh is still in good shape.”
More about this speciesShow less
A small perennial of salt marshes with fleshy leaves and inconspicuous pinkish-white flowers. Rare in Czechia, it has vanished from many former sites.
What it needs
Salty soil. Threatened by changes to the water regime and by overgrowth.
Czech Red List
critically endangered (CR)
Legal protection
critically endangered
Found at
Slanisko Dobré Pole
Photo: Marie Kotasová Adámková
CR
Swamp pricklegrass
Crypsis schoenoides
“When the water retreats, my moment comes! I sprout, flower and drop my seeds before anyone notices – then I wait for the next good year.”
More about this speciesShow less
A small, inconspicuous grass of bare mud on the bottom of pools that dry out from time to time. Salt-tolerant, it completes its whole life cycle in the short time after the water retreats.
What it needs
Pools that fill and dry out naturally, and mud free of dense vegetation. Its seeds can wait in the soil through bad years, so a dry pool bottom is not a dead one.
Czech Red List
critically endangered (CR)
Legal protection
critically endangered
Found at
Slanisko Novosedly
Trkmanec-Rybníčky
Trkmanské louky
Photo: Martin Liška
Threat categories: Red List of Threatened Species of the Czech Republic (AOPK ČR, 2017). Legal protection: Decree No. 395/1992 Coll.
V
Before the project
What went wrong: five problems, most of them linked.
Until the early 20th century, grazing shaped most of the Czech lowlands, and common pastures often covered more than a third of a village’s land. After serfdom was abolished in 1848, many were divided up and ploughed. Large-scale sheep farming collapsed under competition from cheap Australian and South American wool, and fodder crops allowed cattle to be kept in stalls. Land hunger in the 1930s and the spread of artificial fertilisers ended common grazing in the Moravian lowlands; collectivisation merely completed the process. By the late 1960s and early 1970s, the last animals grazing on village slopes, field margins and ditches had gone.
For a long time, conservation itself kept animals out: until the late 1970s, grazing was banned in many protected areas for fear it would destroy rare plants. Only once it stopped did it become clear that grazing and trampling were exactly what many of those plants needed.
Grazing cattle near Klentnice, at the foot of the Pavlov Hills, historical photo. Photo: archive of the Pálava PLA AdministrationMowing and hauling hay in the Dyje valley, historical photo. Photo: Lubor Durda
Grassland around the sites, 1845–2023
Share of the cadastral area of each site. The bold line is the average of the nine cadastral areas; the thin lines are the individual areas.
Source: project data – land use in the cadastral areas of the project sites, 1845–2023.Show the data as a table
2
Unwanted plants took over
With grazing gone, fast-growing plants filled the gaps. Some are invasive – introduced from other continents, they spread aggressively and displace native species. Others are expansive – native plants that take over once land falls out of use. Either way the effect is the same: tall, dense growth that shades or smothers the low plants of the salt meadow.
Invasive
Goldenrods
Solidago spp.
North American garden plants. Each stem releases vast numbers of wind-borne seeds, and creeping rhizomes then build dense stands. Mowing just before flowering, combined with regular grazing, keeps them in check. Present at all project sites.
Photo: Marie Kotasová Adámková
Invasive
Jerusalem artichoke
Helianthus tuberosus
A North American tuber crop that escaped from gardens. Tubers carried by water or in soil sprout into tall, dense stands along streams and on wet meadows; repeated cutting in summer gradually exhausts them. Present at four sites: Hevlínské jezero, Husí pastviště, Kosteliska and Trkmanec-Rybníčky.
Photo: Marie Kotasová Adámková
Invasive
New York aster
Symphyotrichum novi-belgii
North American garden asters now naturalised along rivers and on wet meadows. Spreading by seed and creeping rhizomes, they form dense clumps that displace native plants, including our rare salt-marsh aster. Present at seven of the ten sites.
Photo: Marie Kotasová Adámková
Invasive
Box elder
Acer negundo
A North American maple that seeds itself across floodplains and abandoned fields. Cut stumps resprout vigorously, so it must be removed thoroughly; left alone, it turns open meadows into shady thickets. Present at all project sites.
Photo: Tomáš Vrána
Expansive
Common reed
Phragmites australis
A native grass, but where grazing stops and nutrients accumulate it spreads by long runners into tall, dense beds. Grazing by cattle and buffalo, together with mowing, reopens the sward. Present at all project sites.
Photo: ENVIROP archive
Expansive
Wood small-reed
Calamagrostis epigejos
A native grass that flourishes on abandoned meadows. Its rhizomes form dense, uniform stands, and a thick mat of dead leaves smothers smaller plants. Mowing and grazing weaken it. Present at all project sites.
Photo: Marie Kotasová Adámková
Expansive
Common dogwood
Cornus sanguinea
A native shrub spread by birds that eat its berries and by suckers from its roots. On unmanaged meadows it forms dense thickets. Not a project target, but present at all sites.
Photo: Antonín Zajíček
InvasiveExpansive
Where unwanted plants grew before the project
Estimated probability that a given spot was covered by invasive or expansive plants in 2022, before the project began. Machine-learning model based on ČÚZK aerial imagery and PlanetScope satellite data; values below 0.2 (invasive) and 0.25 (expansive) are not shown. The darker the colour, the higher the probability.
less likelymore likelysite boundary
Vypálenky: Reed, goldenrod and New York aster.
Trávní dvůr: Goldenrod and reed.
Kosteliska: Goldenrod, Jerusalem artichoke, New York aster and reed.
Hevlínské jezero: Reed and dogwood. Dogwood is not yet included in the detection model, although it covered much of the southern part of the site.
Trkmanské louky: Reed, dogwood and box elder. Dogwood and box elder are not yet included in the detection model.
Nutrients and pollutants reach several sites from outside. The water changes colour, and nutrient-loving plants replace the specialists.
Trávní dvůr A discoloured stream. The main source of pollution is a local cannery. Photo: Antonín Zajíček
Slanisko Dobré Pole A discoloured reedbed. The main source of pollution is the wastewater treatment plant in the village of Dobré Pole. Photo: Antonín Zajíček
In the 20th century the landscape was drained for intensive farming; as the water table fell, salt stopped rising to the surface. In recent decades, rising temperatures and more frequent droughts linked to climate change have made matters worse.
Dry pool bottom at Trkmanec-Rybníčky. Photo: Marie Kotasová Adámková
One stripe, one year
Mean annual air temperature at the Lednice weather station, 1961–2023. Blue years were cooler and red years warmer than the 1961–1990 average.
+1.9°Cwarmer than 1961–1990
27hot days a year (30 °C or more), up from 11 in 1961–1990
19612023
Data: ČHMÚ, daily air temperature, Lednice station, 1961–2023. Last ten years (2014–2023) compared with 1961–1990.
An overgrown information board at Hevlínské jezero. Photo: anonymous author, mapy.com
5
Forgotten places
Protected and valuable as they are, these sites were little known. Access was difficult and information scarce, so even locals rarely visited them.
If children don’t grow up knowing about nature and appreciating it, they will not understand it. And if they don’t understand it, then they won’t protect it. And if they don’t protect it, who will?
VI
What we do
Most of the work is traditional: animals, mowing and clearing. A few methods are new.
Why this breed? Hardy and undemanding, it copes with both waterlogging and drought, comes from the Pannonian steppes and was traditionally kept in the region – in Dubňany, for example. Scroll to explore it part by part.
Its long tongue wraps around plants and tears them off, leaving a patchwork of grazed and ungrazed patches, each with its own plants and animals. It also browses leaves and bark, opening up sunny spaces – permanently shaded ground supports far fewer species.
Photo: Nina Babicová
2
Horns
It uses its horns to strip bark and break the branches of self-seeded trees, and to fend off predators such as wolves, foxes and dogs.
Photo: Nina Babicová
3
Body and coat
Birds line their nests with its shed winter coat, starlings pick insects off its back, and swallows and wagtails follow the herd. Where cattle roll on the ground, bare patches appear – ideal nesting sites for solitary bees.
Photo: Ondřej Ryška
4
Hooves
Hooves break up small patches of soil, creating room for plants that cannot compete in dense grass – often rare ones. At Vypálenky, the cattle trampled whole networks of paths through the former reedbeds.
Photo: Antonín Zajíček
5
Dung
Cow dung supports a whole community of insects and fungi, and the animals that feed on them – among them the hoopoe, which hunts for large insects on grazed pastures with short grass.
Photo: ENVIROP archive
Illustration: Matúš Hrnčiar.
Different animals, different roles
Cattle
Non-selective grazers: they eat more or less everything, herbs included, and crop the sward to about 5 cm. They also tackle taller growth and, being heavy, disturb the soil considerably.
Water buffalo
Undemanding and not choosy. They readily graze reed, eat goldenrod too – though they do not seek it out – and browse willow scrub. Broad hooves keep them from sinking into waterlogged ground, and their wallows deepen pools for amphibians and insects.
Horses and ponies
They grip plants with their lips and bite them off close to the ground, to about 3 cm, feeding mainly on grasses. Horses are heavy and suit places where the soil needs to be disturbed and compacted – such as salt marshes. Ponies are lighter and readily eat wood small-reed (Calamagrostis epigejos), a tall expansive grass that other grazers tend to leave.
Sheep
Selective: they avoid tall flowering grasses and graze the lower layer of the sward down to 2–3 cm. Being light, they barely disturb the soil.
Goats
They will graze tall grasses, but prefer to browse broad-leaved herbs and, above all, the leaves and shoots of trees and shrubs – ideal after scrub has been cleared.
Photos: Cattle – JMP ČSO; Water buffalo – Radek Miča; Horses and ponies – Matúš Hrnčiar; Sheep – Nina Babicová; Goats – Nina Babicová. Sources: AOPK ČR – Pastva (palava.aopk.gov.cz/pastva); AOPK ČR – water buffalo at NPR Slanisko u Nesytu (2025); Ekolist, 31 July 2024; Ochranářská příručka – Exmoor pony; Menard et al. (2002), Journal of Applied Ecology 39.
2
Mowing, clearing and sowing
Mowing
Where animals cannot go, we mow. Some places are mown by hand, but many areas are large, so the project acquired an indispensable helper: a tractor with a mower, baler and loader. It also clears manure and moves the bales.
Photo: Marie Kotasová Adámková
Clearing
We remove self-seeded trees and invasive shrubs and thin overgrown woodland, so that light reaches the ground again.
Photo: Marie Kotasová Adámková
Burning
Brushwood from clearing that cannot be used in any other way is burned on site. Fire is used only under clearly defined conditions: suitable weather, the right season and agreement with the fire brigade.
Photo: Marie Kotasová Adámková
Sowing regional seed mixes
At Vypálenky, we sowed seed mixes harvested from local plants on 2.2 ha of meadow heavily overgrown with goldenrod (Solidago), so that native species can reclaim the ground once the goldenrod is cut back.
Photo: ENVIROP archive
Sowing hemiparasites
Hemiparasitic plants such as field cow-wheat (Melampyrum arvense) attach to the roots of dominant plants – grasses, but also invasive goldenrods – and draw water and nutrients from them, weakening them and freeing up space for other species. We are currently testing the method on a small patch at Kosteliska before using it on a larger scale.
Year 1: the dense stand is mown and field cow-wheat is sown
Year 2: the cow-wheat germinates and attaches to the roots of the dominant plants
Year 3: the dominant plants weaken – in a Czech field trial, goldenrod cover dropped from 80–90 % to about 10 % within three years
Later: other species gradually return, although a fully developed meadow takes longer
Photo: Marie Kotasová Adámková
3
New homes for wildlife
Pollarding willows
Pollarded willows are not a separate species but willows whose branches are regularly cut back at head height. Over time they form a short, thick trunk topped by a ‘head’ of upright shoots. Poplars, limes and ash trees used to be treated the same way, supplying firewood, rods for basketry and leaves for livestock.
Today, many pollards are neglected and disappearing, and with them the rare insects, bats and birds that depend on them. The project is therefore bringing pollarding back.
1
The first cut
A young, straight willow is cut at head height – and within a few months it sprouts again.
Just cutA few months later
Photo: Marie Kotasová Adámková
2
Regular pollarding
The shoots are cut back every few years. What looks harsh in fact makes these otherwise short-lived trees live many times longer.
Photo: Marie Kotasová Adámková
3
The head widens and splits
Over the years the head broadens and begins to split, and hollows form in the trunk.
Photo: Nina Babicová
4
New residents
The hollows provide homes for insects, bats and birds, including endangered species such as the hermit beetle (Osmoderma barnabita) and the hoopoe (Upupa epops).
A great spotted woodpecker on an old pollarded willow at Slanisko Novosedly Video: Jiří Loos
Source: AOPK ČR – Ořez vrb na hlavu (palava.aopk.gov.cz/orez-vrb-na-hlavu). Illustrations: Matúš Hrnčiar.
Old and dead wood
Old and dead wood – rotting stumps and slowly decaying trunks – supports hundreds of species, mostly insects but also fungi and birds. We therefore leave part of the cut wood on site.
Photo: ENVIROP archive, Matúš Hrnčiar. Source: AOPK ČR – Staré a mrtvé dřevo (palava.aopk.gov.cz/stare-a-mrtve-drevo).
A shelter for snakes
At Kosteliska, home to a rare population of the Aesculapian snake (Zamenis longissimus), we have built a snake shelter from stacked logs. Snakes bask on top and hide in the gaps between the logs. Plant material rotting inside shelters like this keeps them warm and moist – ideal for incubating eggs.
The sites only have a future if people know and value them. We work with the media, lead excursions, give talks and install information boards on site.
Czech Television filming at Husí pastviště on the day the water buffalo arrived – the first site in South Moravia to host them. Watch the ČT24 report ↗Photo: Luděk Adámek
An insect excursion at Vrbovecký rybník, 2025. Photo: Zdenko Večerík
Marie Kotasová Adámková presenting the project at the LIFE Platform Meeting on amphibian and reptile conservation in Santander, Spain, 2024. Photo: Júlia Buchtová
A project banner at Husí pastviště. Photo: ENVIROP archive
An information board at Slanisko Novosedly. Photo: Marie Kotasová Adámková
VII
Measuring change
The species themselves are the real judges of our work. Counting them year after year is our main measure of success.
Specialists walk fixed routes across the sites at set times of year. Between their visits, cameras and recorders keep watch.
Camera traps
A camera trap takes a picture whenever something moves in front of it. At night, infrared light illuminates the scene without disturbing the animals. We use them mainly for birds and mammals, but by day they also catch reptiles – a basking turtle, for instance, or grass snakes.
A camera trap hidden in the reedsPhoto: Marie Kotasová Adámková
Grey heron, Trkmanec-Rybníčky Photo: ENVIROP archiveRoe deer, Vypálenky Photo: ENVIROP archiveRed fox at night, Trávní dvůr Photo: ENVIROP archiveA curious cow, Vypálenky Photo: ENVIROP archiveREC
Photo: Marie Kotasová Adámková
Sound recorders
Weatherproof recorders hang in trees and switch on at set times, day and night, for weeks on end. Specialists, aided by call-recognition software, then identify the species in the recordings. They work best for birds and amphibians, and occasionally for mammals.
Floodplain forest 0:09
Wetland 0:11
European tree frog (Hyla arborea), fire-bellied toad (Bombina bombina) and water frogs (Pelophylax spp.)
A male bearded reedling (Panurus biarmicus). The ring on its leg shows it had been caught before. Photo: Marie Kotasová Adámková
Mist netting
Fine, dark nets are strung between poles in the vegetation. In flight they are hard to see, so birds fly into them and drop gently into a pocket of the net. Ringers carefully free each bird, record its species, age and sex, measure and weigh it, fit a small ring on its leg and release it.
Mist netting is not part of the systematic monitoring; we use it mainly during excursions and events for the public. Every bird is handled with the greatest care.
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Invertebrates
Insects, spiders and other invertebrates are small, extremely diverse and found everywhere from the soil to the treetops. No single method captures them all, so we combine several.
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Collecting by hand
Specialists search vegetation, soil, dead wood and water and collect what they find – such as this diving beetle.
Finds: large or conspicuous species, and those hiding under stones, in wood or in water
Photo: Marie Kotasová Adámková
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Sweep netting
A strong net is swept through grass and flowers.
Finds: bugs, leafhoppers, grasshoppers, spiders
Photo: Zdenko Večerík
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Suction sampling
A modified leaf blower sucks small animals from plants and the ground.
Finds: small leafhoppers, spiders and beetles in short or dense grass
Photo: Marie Kotasová Adámková
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Beating
Branches are struck with a stick, and the animals drop onto a frame held underneath.
Finds: beetles, bugs and spiders on trees and shrubs
Photo: Zdenko Večerík
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Pitfall traps
Cups sunk flush with the ground catch animals that walk into them.
Finds: ground beetles, spiders and other ground-dwellers
Photo: ENVIROP archive
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Flight-intercept traps
A transparent panel stops flying insects, which fall into a container below.
Finds: flying beetles, including those that live in old trees
Photo: Marie Kotasová Adámková
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Light trapping
At night, a lamp and a white sheet attract insects that fly in the dark.
Finds: moths and other night-flying insects
Photo: Marie Kotasová Adámková
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Dung survey
Dung pats are carefully taken apart.
Finds: dung beetles
Photo: Zdenko Večerík
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Plants
Regular field surveys
Botanists survey the sites regularly, mapping where target species grow and where unwanted plants are spreading.
Photo: ENVIROP archive
5 × 5 m
A permanent plot at Vrbovecký rybník, seen from a drone. Scale bar: 5 m. Photo: Antonín Zajíček
Permanent plots
70 permanent plots
Across the sites we have marked out 70 permanent plots of 5 × 5 m. Each plot in a managed area is paired with a nearby control plot left untouched, which lets us separate the effect of management from changes caused by weather or other factors.
ManagedControl
On each plot, botanists record every plant species and the share of ground it covers (a vegetation relevé). The plots are also monitored from the air.
Recording a relevé. Photo: Marie Kotasová Adámková
4
From above
Some parts of the sites are hard to reach on foot. Drones, aircraft and satellites fill the gaps and capture an entire site at once. We use their images mainly to map habitats, how they change over time, and the spread of invasive and expansive plants.
Antonín Zajíček
Drone
DJI Mavic 3 Multispectral and Mavic 3 Pro
Pixel
a few cm
How often
six times a year
The Mavic 3 Multispectral maps the sites regularly: besides sharp orthophotos, it records light invisible to the human eye, which shows the condition of the vegetation. The Mavic 3 Pro documents the work from the air.
The Czech Office for Surveying, Mapping and Cadastre photographs the whole country from the air. We use its orthophotos, including archive imagery.
Alta (illustration)
PlanetScope
a fleet of small satellites
Pixel
about 3 m
How often
up to daily
Frequent images track how biomass changes through the season, which helps distinguish invasive and expansive plants from other vegetation.
NASA Goddard
Landsat 5–9
NASA / USGS
Pixel
30 m
How often
since 1984
Four decades of imagery allow us to assess the long-term condition of the sites. We rely mainly on the thermal data to gauge the effects of climate change.
What one pixel sees
The same meadow at Trkmanské louky as the drone sees it, and as it would appear at satellite resolution.
Drone image from May 2026. The satellite views are simulated by enlarging the drone image’s pixels to 3 m and 30 m. Photo: Antonín Zajíček
Grazing is now under way at nine of the ten sites; only Trkmanské louky are mown instead.
128ha
grazed in 2026
15.1km
of fences around the pastures
188
grazing animals in 2026
9
long-term grazing partners: seven private farmers, a non-profit and a hunting association
The grazers in 2026
57Cattle
9Water buffalo
9Horses and ponies
103Sheep
10Goats
Icons: OpenMoji (openmoji.org), CC BY-SA 4.0.
Where they graze
Choose a year and a site.
Photo: Antonín Zajíček
4Cattle (Galloway)
5.3 ha
≈ 0.7 t of vegetation eaten (estimate)
10Cattle (Galloway, incl. 6 calves)
7.1 ha
≈ 8.1 t of vegetation eaten (estimate)
9Cattle (Galloway: 6 heifers, a cow, a bull and a calf)
7.1 ha
Photo: Antonín Zajíček
No grazing recorded in 2024.
4Cattle (incl. 2 calves)
1.7 ha
≈ 1 t of vegetation eaten (estimate)
7Goats
5Cattle (4 heifers and a cow)
1Water buffalo
12.3 ha
Photo: Antonín Zajíček
Not in the grazing records yet.
Not in the grazing records yet.
100Sheep (wethers)
10.6 ha
Photo: Antonín Zajíček
17Goats
1Sheep
5Cattle
5 ha
≈ 7.2 t of vegetation eaten (estimate)
1Sheep
6Cattle
5 ha
≈ 8.5 t of vegetation eaten (estimate)
6Cattle (incl. 1 calf)
1Sheep
1Goats
5 ha
Photo: Antonín Zajíček
3Horses
24Sheep
2Ponies
2.5 ha
≈ 9.7 t of vegetation eaten (estimate)
5Horses
2Ponies
2.6 ha
≈ 17.6 t of vegetation eaten (estimate)
4Horses
3Ponies
2Goats
2Sheep
2.6 ha
Photo: Antonín Zajíček
3Water buffalo
5.7 ha
≈ 4.7 t of vegetation eaten (estimate)
3Water buffalo
5.7 ha
≈ 5.6 t of vegetation eaten (estimate)
3Water buffalo
5.7 ha
Photo: Antonín Zajíček
Mown, not grazed
Mown, not grazed
Mown, not grazed
Photo: Antonín Zajíček
No grazing recorded in 2024.
15Cattle (Hungarian steppe)
29.1 ha
≈ 10.3 t of vegetation eaten (estimate)
15Cattle (Hungarian steppe)
40.7 ha
Photo: Antonín Zajíček
6Cattle
3.2 ha
≈ 2.5 t of vegetation eaten (estimate)
6Water buffalo
2Horses
8.2 ha
≈ 17.3 t of vegetation eaten (estimate)
5Water buffalo
8Cattle (7 cows and a bull)
2Horses (at times)
8.3 ha
Photo: Antonín Zajíček
No grazing recorded in 2024.
14Cattle (Hungarian steppe)
18 ha
≈ 19.1 t of vegetation eaten (estimate)
14Cattle (Hungarian steppe)
36 ha
Data: grazing records of the project partners and the current herds (September 2026). The overview of grazers is the sum of the 2026 figures on the map; animal numbers are the highest recorded at any one time. For 2024 and 2025, the amount of vegetation eaten (dry matter) is estimated from the number of animals, the length of the grazing season and the typical daily intake of each species. Fence length is the perimeter of the 2026 pastures.
2
Management in place
183ha
of the planned 506 ha are already under management – grazing, mowing, clearing and other measures
506 ha
Large-scale mowing covers 13.5 ha, at Trkmanské louky and Vypálenky.
3
Unwanted plants in retreat
7.5ha
less land covered by invasive plants than in 2023 (−17 %)
17.3ha
less land covered by expansive plants than in 2023 (−15 %)
3.4ha
largest decrease in invasive plants by area, at Trkmanec-Rybníčky (−54 %). The largest relative drop was at Slanisko Dobré Pole (−60 %), but on only 0.3 ha.
7.9ha
largest decrease in expansive plants, by area and by share, at Hevlínské jezero (−83 %)
Together, invasive and expansive plants covered 163 ha of the assessed area in 2023 and 137 ha in 2026 (−16 %), retreating at nine of the ten sites. Mapped from aerial, satellite and drone imagery and verified in the field.
Cover by site and year
Share of each mapped area covered by invasive or expansive plants. Switch between the two groups and between 2023 and 2026, and choose a site.
Cover of invasive plants
0–10 %
10–30 %
30–50 %
50–70 %
70–90 %
> 90 %
not assessed (yet)
Cover of expansive plants
0–10 %
10–30 %
30–50 %
50–70 %
70–90 %
> 90 %
not assessed (yet)
Before and after
20242026
Photo: Antonín Zajíček↔ Drag to compare Hevlínské jezero: dogwood and invasive plants were removed from the most valuable, periodically flooded parts in the south and west; reed was cut, pools deepened and the woodland thinned.
20222026
Hold Ctrl (⌘ on Mac) and scroll to zoom · drag to move
Kosteliska from a drone, 2026: the same meadow without grazing (left) and grazed (right). Where the animals graze, reed, invasive plants and shrubs are thinning out. Photo: Antonín Zajíček
4
More species
820
land invertebrate species recorded in 2026, up from 614 in 2023
31
dung beetle species, up from 6 in 2023 – they live on the dung of grazing animals
Species recorded, by year
Number of species recorded each year. 2026 counts are not final yet. Gaps = data not available (yet). Data: LIFE in Salt Marshes monitoring 2023–2026.
Success story
A thistle’s swift recovery
At Trkmanské louky, the critically endangered yellow-spined thistle (Cirsium brachycephalum) once grew in large numbers, until reed spread and the meadows were left undisturbed. Two years of mowing and breaking up the old turf were enough for it to return.
hundreds of plants grow there again
Photo: author not known yet, Nina Babicová
20222026
Photo: Antonín Zajíček↔ Drag to compare Trkmanské louky from a drone, before and after mowing.
Success story
Slanisko Dobré Pole in bloom
The small salt marsh Slanisko Dobré Pole is flowering again and full of salt-loving plants.
The salt meadow in flowerCommon fleabane Pulicaria dysentericaDragon's teeth Tetragonolobus maritimusLesser sea-spurrey Spergularia salinaNarrow-leaved bird's-foot trefoil Lotus tenuisSea plantain Plantago maritimaStrawberry clover Trifolium fragiferum
Photos: Martin Liška, Nina Babicová
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Awareness and education
53
educational events on and off the sites
32
excursions to the sites
628
people on the excursions
9
information banners
1
information board
Project records, 2023 to June 2026. Participant numbers are a minimum, as a few events have no head count. In addition, the project presented 12 talks and posters at conferences.
To be continued
The project is well under way and the marshes are already responding. We will keep adding to this story as the monitoring continues and new results come in.
CR
VU
NT
VU
CR
CR
CR
Just cut
A few months later
Watch the video · 0:31
5 × 5 m
20242026
20222025
Without grazingGrazed
20222026
