Mowed the meadow — the chicks disappeared: how Moscow is destroying the breeding sites of Red-listed birds

How can we protect nature if there is no solidarity in society? If the struggle for Life itself is the concern of only a few people who truly pay attention to problems and are ready to defend nature. Imagine how this world would change if every person identified “places of pain” and responded like an immune system — triggering reactions to solve problems, protect animals, and protect Human beings themselves.

I want to show you, through a real example, what love for nature and solidarity with all Living things around us should look like. I recently received a letter. Alexandra from Moscow wrote to me, and I quote:

“Hello, please help. They completely mowed a meadow where Red-listed northern lapwing chicks were located; they were 22 days old. The Department does not care. Let’s make this public. I have all the photos and videos; I came every day to count the chicks.

Today I went there looking for them, and the chicks are gone. The meadow is also inhabited by yellow wagtails and bluethroats; I have videos of them too. I am from Moscow, and the meadow is next to Lukoil Arena, Spartak metro station.”

After that, Alexandra sent me the rest of the details, including videos of the birds. Astonishing feminine magic — such a subtle perception of the world, it is incredible.

“At the beginning, there are screenshots confirming the chicks’ age. Then I will start with videos confirming that the chicks were in the meadow. The video shows the monument next to Lukoil Arena, and immediately after that there are videos with a yellow wagtail, showing what the meadow looked like afterwards.

My husband and I first saw the chicks on May 17, and they disappeared on the day of the mowing — June 9. We came there on the evening of June 8, and everything was fine with them; there is a video from that date at 21:03. Also, four days before the mowing, another lapwing arrived with two chicks; judging by their appearance, they were also 22–23 days old. The result: on the day of the disappearance, only adult lapwings were present on the mowed meadow. The meadow is surrounded by roads.

After June 9, we continued visiting that meadow, and we saw an adult lapwing there with a young lapwing that can fly. Apparently, they took the place of the previous chicks. There is a construction site nearby across the road, and there are lapwings there too, but it is fenced off, and we do not know how many of them are there.

I called the Bird Union and the Department, but in the end there was no result. The fate of the chicks is unknown. Maybe they left with their mothers, but they cannot fly, and when there is danger they freeze in the grass. What if they were not noticed during the mowing, since everything was cut down to the ground?

Is it possible to influence this so that they do not mow everything at once and leave shelter areas?”

In the videos I received, there are wonderful birds, small feathered lives rejoicing in the sun and in their young brood of chicks. Life that should have been passed on further, supporting the immune system and showing that nature is capable of surviving even in a megacity. Unfortunately, the city did not spare them, and that life was cut short.

The northern lapwing (Vanellus vanellus) is a Red-listed species in Moscow and is included in the Red Book of the city of Moscow with conservation status “rarity category 1.” While nesting in the heart of our country, the species is under threat of complete extinction.

The other little bird is the yellow wagtail, which is also listed in the Red Book of Moscow. It has category 3, which means the species is vulnerable and may also soon find itself on the verge of complete extinction.

Poor little birds find no life from humans anywhere. It turns out that successful reproduction of lapwing families was taking place on this site, and until the evening of June 8 the broods were still there. Our environmental authority, the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection of Moscow, had the opportunity to identify the birds and take them under protection. But this did not happen. Instead, machinery drove across the meadow, completely mowing down their habitat, after which the chicks disappeared.

Naturally, the brood died, while the alarmed parents panicked as they tried to find their children. Adults can fly away; chicks cannot. And when grass is mowed with machinery, not even a trace of small chicks will remain.

Thus, Alexandra is completely right in her letter: a habitat was destroyed during the breeding period, followed by the disappearance of flightless chicks. Lapwings, which are on the verge of complete extinction right now, lost above all the chance for the survival of the entire population. One day, in exactly the same way, no one will notice how these small birds simply disappear from the face of the Earth together with their multimillion-year evolutionary history.

And do you know why?

Because only Alexandra, this astonishingly kind person, had enough solidarity and love in her heart to stop and pay attention to the birds. Only one immune cell in a multimillion-person concrete city was able to identify the threat to the birds and tried to do something to save them.

And as you know, everything in nature is interconnected. The lapwing is an indicator of open wet meadows, low-grass areas, and if the species is dying out, this first of all means systemic degradation of biological systems. In other words, the open meadow, wet soil, low and heterogeneous vegetation, the food base of invertebrates, ground-nesting sites, and shelters for chicks are dying.

The first loss can be considered the disappearance of an indicator of the meadow’s condition. The collapse of immunity, I would say, which was responsible for determining the state of the environment in its ecological niche. Then the food chain collapses, and the natural redistribution of biomass is disrupted. And as we know from the letter of the wonderful Alexandra, the lapwing was not the only species on this site: together with it, yellow wagtails, bluethroats, and other meadow-wetland species were recorded there. Thus, we are talking about a site that functions as a small fragment of a meadow-wetland complex.

I studied the maps, including those that were sent to me with the letters: this happened in the Pokrovskoye-Streshnevo district. It concerns an undeveloped meadow area on the territory of the former Tushino airfield. In descriptions of the airfield itself, I found information that the airfield was partially waterlogged. This indicates the territorial importance of this place for wildlife — it is precisely such open, inherited wet spaces that give meadow-wetland species a chance to persist inside the city.

And if it is now simply being mowed by “workers” on the orders of the administration, without any preliminary observations by employees of the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection, then nesting niches, feeding areas, and shelters for several species on the verge of extinction are being lost both now and in the future.

Let us show solidarity with Life and show that we care!

I do not want Alexandra’s voice and her love for nature to vanish without a trace in the deafening technogenic noise of the big city. In the indifference of millions.

Let us show that at least we care. Let us help draw attention to this problem and protect the birds’ habitat in the future. Otherwise, species will simply disappear without a trace after several years of population destruction by heavy machinery, shrinking year after year. Article 22 of the Federal Law “On the Animal World” directly states that any activity that changes the habitat of wildlife and worsens the conditions for their reproduction, rest, feeding, and migration must be carried out only in compliance with conservation requirements. And in the course of economic activity, measures must be provided and implemented to preserve habitats, while on protective areas the timing and technologies of work may be restricted.

Article 24 of the same law also adds an even stricter norm: actions that may lead to the death, reduction in numbers, or disturbance of the habitat of species listed in the Red Book of the Russian Federation or the red books of constituent entities of the Russian Federation are not permitted; persons conducting economic activity in the territories inhabited by such species are responsible for their conservation and reproduction.

On behalf of our projects, I will personally prepare and send a statement to the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection of Moscow, asking them to investigate the situation and protect the bird population’s right to Life. We will prepare legally sound arguments and try to bring the problem to concrete decisions.

Also, until June 20, instructions have been launched on our “Green Page” for all associates: what you can do as well to help solve this problem. As many people as possible need to take part, and this way we will show that we are not indifferent to the fate of wildlife and the world around us. This way we will show that there are truly many of us and that we are ready to fight for Life. And we stand for solidarity.

Take part

I publicly express my immense gratitude to Alexandra for her response. All the people who are now taking part and helping to solve the problem are acting precisely because real magic is still alive in you — the ability to feel and love nature. It was you who noticed the problem, observed the birds for so many days, and, having identified the threat, managed to trigger an immune response within our society.

Gratitude to you from all of us for your love of nature and your thirst for Life. 

© PAVEL PASHKOV