Explorer route - The pastures of Lange Lacke

The male skylarks spiral high into the air during their courtship ritual. To attract females, they fly vertically into the sky, singing loudly. The flight song can last for minutes. A real high-performance song.

“Grazing indicators” are plants that tend to remain on grazed areas because they are rarely eaten by cattle, sheep, or horses. This includes, for example, the spiny restharrow, which is avoided by grazing animals because of its thorns.

Ground-nesting birds, like the lapwing, benefit from grazing. Especially impressive in spring is the lapwing's courtship flight. With acrobatic flight maneuvers and loud calls, the males try to win over the females.

A true rarity in the area is the nose grasshopper. This warmth-loving species is mainly found in southern and southeastern Europe. Until its rediscovery at Lange Lacke in 2018, it was considered lost throughout Austria for 25 years.

Around the lake, a herd of Fleckvieh cattle, supervised by a herdsman with his dogs, fulfills important “nature conservation tasks.” The meadows kept short by grazing host an extremely high diversity of insect and plant species.