The real estate crisis
of the skylark

The battle for fallow land has been fully inflamed by the Ukraine crisis. In Austria, around 9,000 hectares of fallow land have been allowed to be used for "full" agricultural purposes again since April 2022, including spraying agents & co. The pros and cons have been widely discussed in the media. Only one perspective has been missing: that of the feathered affected. We invite the skylark to talk to us.

(To improve the readability of the text, individual terms in the running text have been translated into human, original text in brackets in italics)

Interviewer: Isn't the "real estate crisis" of the skylarks being blown out of proportion by the media?

Skylark: Many people(fellow beings) are not aware of how the crisis has worsened in the meantime. How old are you? This section of text is particularly important and is therefore highlighted in color. In this case in green.

Interviewer: 42 years old.

Skylark: Then you know what I'm talking about. In the last 20 years, every second skylark in Austria has disappeared. Every second one! And why? Homes(nesting sites) that somehow meet our needs are almost impossible to find here in Austria. But even the shelves in the stores(areas with sufficient insects, snails and worms) are often more than pitifully stocked.

I'm not exactly the luxury hotel visitor(demanding tree cavity nester), more the camper(ground nester) among the birds. So quite frugal. A bit of fallow land and then it's fine for me again.

Interviewer: Isn't that an understatement? You are also somehow 'special'?

I really don't understand what the problem is. Well, I'm brooding on the ground. That may not have been the smartest decision in the history of evolution, but it was not foreseeable for a long time that you would one day invent machines. Now it's like this and we have to make do somehow.

I have a soft spot for insects, snails and worms. There are plenty of them on fallow land. And this is the only place where I can still breed undisturbed.

And to be honest: am I really the only one who benefits from fallow land? No. They store a lot of water, which we all need after all. They store a lot of_CO2, which is also an advantage in times of climate crisis.

And I don't think I need to tell you that without fertile soils, we all - whether lark or human - look like fools.

Interviewer: You accepted our interview request without hesitation. For what reason?

Skylark: I've been observing the whole situation for a while now with increasing stomach ache, and not just because of the hunger. And I can see that you yourselves are somehow torn. On the one hand, you're giving me roses, voting me Bird of the Year (2019). And then there was your concession to alleviate our real estate crisis(lack of breeding places).

Interviewer: Do you mean the Europe-wide regulation that 4 percent of agricultural land must be fallow land?

Skylark: Exactly, that's what I mean. But, without wanting to attack you personally, history has shown that pious intentions are quickly thrown overboard. That's what happened a few months ago.

We come back from Africa in April and move into an apartment(breeding site on fallow land) that we had already moved into last year. So we lay our eggs. Brood, brood, brood. The little ones hatch. And then suddenly a giant plow arrives. I don't have to tell you what that meant for us.

Interviewer: Presumably you had the misfortune to breed on one of the "biodiversity areas" that have been allowed to be used 'fully' again since April?

Skylark: That's exactly how it was. It's really frustrating. We just don't know what we can rely on anymore. You say you have to secure your own food. But to be honest, I can't understand your worries.

You throw away one in three foodstuffs. You don't eat 60 percent of your grain yourselves, but feed it to animals. If you only ate some of it yourselves, you could be far more generous towards us and all other fallow land dwellers.

You can't say it's rocket science to secure your food supply: throw less food in the bin, eat more grain and soy yourself and the wasteland bickering could be a thing of the past.

I already know that the 'less meat' debate is tedious. I eat a strictly seasonal and flexitarian diet myself, eating more meat(insects, snails and worms) during the breeding season and hardly any in winter. It's all a question of attitude. And ultimately also a question of survival.

Interviewer: What helps you not to bury your head in the sand and remain hopeful in times like these?

Skylark: I cannot and will not imagine a world in which our song no longer resounds over your fields. Those of you who know and appreciate us are crazy about our song. The British composer Vaughan Williams even translated our singing into human music - with great success. I get goosebumps when I listen to this homage to us. It gives me hope.

And it shows me that many of you are really attached to us. Perhaps also because they realize that we are dependent on each other. After all, where would you be without the free services (note: ecosystem services - see box) that we and our colleagues(plants, animals, etc.) provide for you?

INFO: Ecosystem services are the many benefits that humans derive from ecosystems or even individual species. Examples include the pollination of fruit and vegetables by bumblebees, wild bees and butterflies, the natural purification of water and the regulation of the climate. But they also include recreation and aesthetic pleasure.

Interviewer: Is there anything tangible that gives you hope for a better future?

Yes, when I read a study on the "recovery of farmland bird populations", for example, it is balm for my soul. Scientists have found out how our populations could recover significantly, even almost double if you like: We would need 10 percent fallow land and fewer intensive crops such as rapeseed and maize. In other words, at most as much maize in the fields as was grown at the turn of the millennium. That would be a small step for mankind, but a great leap for us.

Interviewer: Is there anything else you would like to say to our readers?

Sometimes I have a strange dream at night: I rise up over a field singing, you know, like a helicopter, chirping steeply upwards. Then I see a mother with a little boy below me. The boy points at me and says: "Mom, what's that weird drone, can it chirp?" And then I always wake up. That's my personal nightmare. I don't want it to come to that. I don't want us to live even further apart. After all, we have spent millennia breeding in fields that you have laboriously tilled. We were the soundtrack to your hard work until you disappeared more and more into your homes and factories during the industrial revolution.

I think we could pick up on our old relationship again. And put our hearts and souls into a sustainable agricultural turnaround: you get your fill and we keep on singing. Or in aeronautical terms: soaring instead of plummeting for us all.