Tag: Volunteer Wolf

On our last survey day on Friday the teams again walked more than 40 km overall, checking parts of the main valley, collecting some of the camera traps that were set on Tuesday, but also placing a couple more in promising spots, i.e. near a fresh wolf kill.

The snow conditions have worsened over the last few days. It’s been thawing during the day and freezing at night. In many places the snow is covered with a solid layer of ice, so fresh footprints and tracks are much more difficult to spot.

In the evening Tomas summed up the provisional results of the first week:

• The teams walked a total of 173.5 km, covering 14 transects and surveying 15 cells of 2.5 x 2.5 km
• 18 camera traps were set up
• Five samples of our target species were collected for DNA analysis: Two bear scats, one lynx and one wolf urine as well as one wolf scat.
• The teams recorded hazel grouse once, two golden eagles, otter four times and wildcat seven times. They also found 17 lynx, 47 wolf and an overwhelming number of 66 bear signs. Never before on this project (in February) have bears been that active.
• Pictures of red deer, fox, pinemarten, squirrel and lynx were found on the cameras brought back to base (see pictures).

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It was almost midnight when we went to bed after a shot of Tatra tea or Frantisek’s homemade ginger/honey vodka. The week has gone so quickly!

Thank you everyone of team one, you’ve done a great job collecting a huge amount of data every single day on long distance walks equipped with snow shoes, clipboards and GPSs. Thank you so much for putting a lot into this project, which could not happen without you. It was a great pleasure to meet you all. Safe travels or enjoy your onward trip.

Team 2, I will meet you at Bratislava station at 9:00 on Sunday morning.

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Most of the main part of the 24 km long Lubochňa valley was surveyed on Thursday. Gilli, Idan and Ed started at the very end together with Noro and worked their way downwards, dipping into smaller side valleys as they went along. Close to a rock providing a perfect vantage point, they found a lynx marking place, collected samples for DNA analysis and set up a camera trap. There is a good chance of a lynx revisiting what looks like a favourite place. They also found very clear otter trails around a small lake (see picture), a first on this year’s species list. Other than that, they recorded evidence of wildcat, wild boar and pine marten. By the end of the day, their odometer reading was 14 km.

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Angela, Phil and Peter started mid-valley towards Lubochňa village. Right opposite the starting point close to a house, they found their first wolf tracks, then more crossing the main road as they went along. Past the National Park boundary, they spotted bear tracks on a flat area stretching out for about 100 m towards a river. Following them, they could discern that one big and two small individuals must have walked together. The track then led them into some small bushes and trees, where they discovered remains of a very old kill and lots more bear tracks all over the place. Another promising spot for a camera trap? Tomas will go and check out this location soon. Remarkably, this exciting discovery was made only a few hundred metres away from the first houses of Lubochňa village.

Team three tied a record of finding wolf tracks in Lipová valley. On their 18 km loop Anne, Angelika, Karl-Heinz and Marina found a nearly eaten carcass of a young deer, several wolf tracks of up to five individuals, as well as a lynx trail. They then set up a camera trap in a place where lynx and wolf have been seen before. They were late for the hot chocolate at Pod Lipami but will make up for that today, I am sure. 😉

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On Wednesday we surveyed Honiaca, Rakytov und Rakova valleys.

During the de-brief the valleys were renamed more appropriately as Getting Lost, Death Valley and Bear Paradise. In the latter Tomas’s team must have been surrounded by bears. Tracks of a couple of mothers with young ones were found. On one of the meadows the bears must have thrown a party. The whole area was covered with footprints. Not much other wildlife, though, for this group, but the first sign of wild boar presence this year.

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By contrast, Death valley, surveyed by Noro and his team was more or less abandoned, except for one bear and one pine marten track. Quite a few pictures were taken of funny snow shapes that still would not pass for an animal track for our scientist, despite persistant bargaining during the de-brief. Tomas finally admitted a 50% bear, track but didn’t allow an entry into the data sheets. Everyone was happy in the end. 😉

Getting Lost during this expedition is classified as a medium risk. Statistically it happens to one group during each slot. It was team 1’s turn yesterday given that being (very) late would also count for this category. But their data sheet included more than thirty entries starting from squirrel, pine marten, badger to bear and lynx (two walking together) and once more wildcat. Everyone was back at base by around 17:15, some with, others without having had a hot chocolate or two at Pod Lipami.

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Great success on our first full survey day on Tuesday. All three teams found bear tracks! So, instead of hibernating, some of them are roaming around. Even at least one of the old ones, the so-called “King of Lubochnia valley” is active, as proven by a footprint of 22 cm width that Noro’s team of Angelika, Anne and Karl-Heinz found in Turecka valley. The bear weighs about 320 kg, Tomas told us.

Tomas took Gilli, Ed, Idan and journalist Chris to Lipova valley for a 16 km survey walk. Two camera traps were set up, one right at a lynx marking place. The steep shortcut they took back down to where the car was parked wasn’t managed in proper walking manner, though 😉

Most wolf tracks were found in Turecka valley. Noro’s team reported that they were surrounded by wolves in the beginning and by bears later on.

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About 35 recordings were put in the data sheets including also lynx and the black woodpecker – quite impressive.

Another exciting finding were very clear wild cat tracks in Krackor valley . Angela and Philip both claimed to be first at spotting them, but I think everyone on the team (Marina, Peter and myself) saw them at about the same time on the trail we were walking. We came along an active logging site, but the wildlife doesn’t seem to have vanished from this area. Lynx and bear tracks were found, as well as Hazel grouse footprints.

After finishing the surveys, we met at the Pod Lipami inn at the entrance to the valley, famous for its hot chocolate. It reminds more of a pudding than a drink topped with cream. Heaven after a day out in the snowy mountains.

 

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Everyone arrived safely on Sunday.

This week we are a team of ten team members form the UK, USA, Germany, Israel and of course Slovakia.

After a journey of about four hours from Bratislava station to Švošov we had lunch and then went straight into briefings and training sessions. In the evening Thomas’s film about the two lynx Lisa and Muro that were born in a zoo, then raised by hand for two years and finally been released into the wild in Lubochnya valley, our study site, rounded up the day.

There was more training on Monday morning, including navigating with maps, compasses and GPSs as well as first experiences with walking with snow shoes. Taking with us all our lunch boxes and the equipment, we left base at 11:30 for a training walk in our study site.

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We found the first fresh wolf tracks only a few dozen metres away from where we had parked the cars. Not only one, but lots of them. So we spent quite some time in this spot until all data were recorded. We proceeded to beautiful lake Blatna and had lunch there. The lake was still covered in layers of snow, despite the thaw of the last four days.

Today will be our fist ‘real’ full survey day out. While I write this, everyone else is having breakfast and preparing for the day.

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I arrived at base on Thursday afternoon. It was a long drive of more than 1,000 km from where I started two days ago, with heavy snowfall most of the way through Austria and wintery driving conditions in Slovakia too.

In Bratislava, I met up with Tomas, the expedition scientist. It was a brief encounter at a service station on the way to discuss preparations, logistics and permissions for the expedition vehicles in the Veľká Fatra National Park. The forestry department staff there have told Tomas that quite a few bears are active instead of hibernating, some even having young ones. Maybe we will be lucky!

By the way, the Veľká Fatra National Park National Park has a fairly active Facebook page (www.facebook.com/Národný-park-Veľká-Fatra-168367143242479) with some good pictures and videos of their trapping efforts, showing lynx, bears and wolves, amongst other species.

At base in Švošov I was warmly welcomed by František Pompáš, our host and owner of the house we will call home for the next couple of weeks. The welcoming drink offered was Tatra tea – a very special homemade refined vodka with honey, wild flowers and some other unfamiliar spicy stuff. Beware the Tatra tea!

After tea, I spent most of the rest of Thursday unpacking boxes, writing shopping lists and going through paperwork.

It’s been thawing here, but there is still now on the mountains. The forecast (www.wunderground.com/sk/ruzomberok) is for more thaw and rain for a few days, followed by a drop in temperatures and snow.

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Hello everyone and welcome to the Slovakia 2017 expedition diary.

My name is Malika and I will be your expedition leader. It’s been seven years since I led this project and I am really looking forward to returning to Slovakia.

In a few minutes I will be leaving from Höchberg in Bavaria, Germany. I have packed items such as GPSs, binoculars, paperwork etc. from the stores into three boxes; the rest is already in storage in Slovakia.

Today I’ll drive for seven hours or so to Vienna, and tomorrow another four to our expedition base in Švošov, where I should arrive around noon on Thursday to set up. Tomas, the expedition scientist and his assistant Noro will join me on Saturday morning.

From what we’ve heard from our partners on the ground, the study site is covered in snow – good conditions for our surveys. Keep your fingers crossed that the temperatures will stay low enough to get more snow instead of rain.

I hope your preparations are going well. I will be in touch again once I have arrived at base with updates from the site.

That’s it for now – I’ll keep you updated.

Regards

Malika

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Tracking wolf, bear and lynx in Slovakia’s Vel’ka Fatra National Park

This is the fifth year that Biosphere Expeditions has run its winter lynx, wolf and bear conservation research project in the Vel’ka Fatra National Park, located in the Western Carpathian Mountains of Slovakia. The study site in the Lubochnianska valley, where the expedition operates, continues to support large carnivores, which have disappeared from most of their former ranges across Europe due to hunting and habitat destruction.

Although designated as a national park, the Vel‘ka Fatra, is still subject to logging and hunting. Biosphere Expeditions is working with local scientist and wildlife filmmaker Tomas Hulik to collect scientific data on the numbers and distribution of large carnivores in Lubochnianska valley.

Each year the expedition runs for two weeks in February when the valley slopes and trails are usually covered in snow, providing a canvas on which the tracks and trails of the large carnivores are painted. Data are collected by citizen scientist volunteers walking the forest trails on snow shoes, recording evidence of large carnivores and their prey. This includes recording tracks, scats and prey remains. Cameras are also left out on trails to record passing animals and identify them by their coat patterns. Although the weather this year was unusually mild, there has still been sufficient snow to collect significant amounts of data on the large carnivores using the valley.

Expedition scientist Hulik explains: “We do not expect expedition participants to have any scientific background. The expedition leader and scientist provide all the training necessary to recognise field signs and collect meaningful data.”

Participants this year came from many countries including Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, Australia, UK and the USA. The expedition also offers placement opportunities for local people committed to wildlife conservation. This year the expedition was joined by Karolina Skrivankova, a Slovakian student hoping to pursue a career in biology. Karolina says she “liked the cooperation between participants and expedition leader, group leaders and scientist” and “thank you for the chance to participate, it was amazing”.

The youngest participant this year was thirteen year old Samantha from the USA, with ambitions to be a wolf biologist. Samantha joined the expedition with her mother, Tiffany, who described the experience as “a once in a lifetime trip that Samantha and I will always remember with great memories of the food, people and tracks. We both learned so much!”.

All evidence collected is carefully measured, photographed and its location recorded using GPS devices. As the expedition progresses, a picture develops of the numbers and distribution of large carnivores in the valley. The study site is divided into grid cells (2.5 x 2.5 km), which allows for the expedition’s large carnivore data to be entered into an internationally recognised database. The results help to inform population estimates for wolf, bear and lynx numbers in the valley and changes between years to be monitored. This year the expedition participants walked a total of 460 km along 33 transects, covering 26 grid cells. Hulik describes this as “a really great effort, which resulted in the recording of 32 wolf signs, 5 lynx signs and 4 bear signs, as well as the collection of 6 wolf scat and urine samples which can be used for DNA analysis”.

The scientific data collected during the expedition are reported each year in a full expedition report. The findings are presented to the government’s national park and national forestry departments and help inform estimates of large carnivore numbers in the Vel’ka Fatra National Park. The data also contribute towards realistic estimates of population sizes, which inform conservation measures and therefore increase the long-term survival changes of these iconic predators in the Vel’ka Fatra.

This year’s Biosphere Expeditions leader Paul Franklin says: ‘‘We have had another very successful year surveying large carnivores in the Lubochnianska valley. The team has worked hard to survey the transect trails each day in all weathers and these data are valuable to enable us to monitor population changes of large carnivores between years. The financial contribution from participants makes it all possible by funding the research, expedition logistics and local scientist. This research will make a meaningful contribution to wildlife conservation in Slovakia”.

Tomas Hulik, the expedition scientist, adds: ‘‘This was another very successful year with volunteers from Biosphere Expeditions. We collected a lot of data on the presence of wolf and lynx in the valley, including locating all three resident wolf packs and at least two resident lynx with an additional individual likely to have migrated into the valley for mating. The mild conditions and relatively thin snow cover enabled us to achieve our second highest coverage of the study area transects in the five years that the expedition has been running”.

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Below is selection of pictures from the expedition (also mirrored on Facebook).

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Today we said farewell to the Slot 2 participants at the train station in Kralovany. It’s a wet, rainy day and would not have been good for transect walks anyway, as the rain has washed away much of the remaining snow, making tracks hard to find. This emphasises how lucky we have been with the weather over the last week: Although we have had no fresh snow, the snow from the previous week has remained on the higher slopes in the valley and enabled us to collect important data.

Samantha, our youngest participant at 13, from the USA, has managed to find wolf tracks on each day she has been out. This should provide plenty of inspiration to pursue a potential career as a wolf biologist in the future. Yesterday we also found fresh lynx tracks in the Jabalinska side valley, the tracks headed off down a ridge in one direction while an older set of tracks from a wolf pack were heading up the ridge. Tomas installed a camera trap at this great location and we have a further four camera traps installed in the valley, which will be left in place for another month and then collected by Tomas to add to the dataset collected on this year’s expedition.

Thanks to all our participants’ hard work this year, we have walked a total of 460 km on 33 transects through 26 survey cells (each cell is 2.5 x 2.5 km). In total we recorded 32 wolf signs, 5 lynx signs and 4 bear signs. We also collected 5 wolf scats and 1 wolf urine sample, which will be DNA-analysed to confirm our suppositions. In addition to the large carnivores, we recorded tracks of pine marten, badger, otter, squirrel, stoat, wild boar, red deer and roe deer. Sightings included roe deer, red deer, black woodpecker, three-toed woodpecker, nutcracker, dipper, rose finch, hazel grouse, raven, golden eagle, buzzard, fire salamander and red squirrel.

Phil and Paul will spend the rest of today packing up the equipment and Tomas is on his way back to Bratislava with all the samples and datasheets, which will be carefully analysed before the final expedition report is produced later in the year. We hope that everyone has a safe journey home and hope to see some of you again on future expeditions. Once again many thanks for your dedicated efforts in the collection of scientific data and for your time and money contributions, which have made the whole expedition and science work possible. Dovidenia, until next time!

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Slot 2 participants arrived on the train from Bratislava on Saturday and had a busy afternoon with safety and science briefings. In addition to Katie, who has stayed on from slot 1, we now have Tiffany and daughter Samantha from the USA, Voja from Australia/UK, Vincent from Sweden, Yvonne from Switzerland and Nadine from the UK. On Sunday Tomas, Paul and Phil ran the equipment and data collection training including some navigation and GPS skills. In the afternoon we hiked the transect up to Lake Blatna under a blue sky and sunshine, a rare opportunity to bring out the sunglasses. We reset our camera traps at Lake Blatna and were lucky enough to see a pair of roe deer, although, unlike last week, no lynx or wolf tracks could be found near the lake.

The heavy snowfall that we had near the end of last week seems to have brought the red deer lower down into the valley as indicated by an increased number of tracks. It is likely that the wolves follow the red deer, their main prey item and today’s Transect 2 group with Paul, Tiffany, Samantha and Vincent found tracks of a five-strong wolf pack close to the main valley road towards the middle section of the valley. No sunshine today, although the temperature is relatively mild with some rain in the night that has removed snow cover from the lowest parts of the valley. Tomas and Katie came back today from there transect with some pictures of black woodpecker and red deer. Noro and Yvonne came back from their transect with an empty flask of Noro’s famous ‘plum juice’.

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