Svoboda & Williams donated CZK 200,000 to the Czech Society for Ornithology. This successful non-profit will use the funds to create a bird park in Zbudovská Blata in South Bohemia, the last nesting site of the rare black-tailed godwit in the Czech Republic.
Atypical for the Czech landscape, the vast meadows surrounded by ponds and South Bohemian villages are a legendary ornithological site. The large area attracts bird species that make Zbudovská Blata a popular migration stop or breeding ground. However, the birds lack water as the site was extensively drained in the second half of the 1920s. Thanks to the support of private donors, the CSO is now buying up 11 hectares of land, which it will return water to and create a habitat for wetland birds.
"For many years now, we've supported the protection of valuable natural sites, for example through our financial partnership with the Refugium environmental organization, which restores natural habitats, and our support for the CSO and the Zamenis association, which focuses on the protection of the Aesculapian snake in the Central Poohří region," says Prokop Svoboda, owner of Svoboda & Williams.
The establishment of bird parks, refuges not only for birds, but also for other endangered animals and plants, is one of the key activities of the Czech Society for Ornithology alongside monitoring and research. Thus far, the CSO has successfully established four bird parks: Josefovské meadows, Mnišské meadows, Kosteliska, and Malá Lipová. The donation will be used to further develop the sites.
