Dry karstic grasslands, like the name suggests, are found in the Karst region of western Slovenia. The Karst, or Kras in Slovene, is a limestone plateau lying in the northernmost part of the Adriatic sea. It extends above the town of Trieste in northeast Italy and into western Slovenia. The area is known for its geological, geomorphological and speleological phenomena, known commonly as karstic phenomena. The term “karst” became the technical term describing any karst area in the world, where the landscape is formed with the dissolution of soluble limestone and dolomite rocks.

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The Karst’s most characteristic landscape is a stony grassland, formed through four millenia of human activity: from deforestation to intensive grazing of livestock. Nowadays this kind of grassland is slowly giving way to forested areas, as grazing and land use is being abandoned. Although semi-natural, such grasslands are among the most species rich habitats in Europe. They are included in EU’s Habitat Directive and classified as Eastern sub-mediterranean dry grasslands (Scorzoneretalia villosae = Scorzonero-Chrysopogonetalia).

There are a whole variety of birds living on dry karstic grasslands, that, in Slovenia at least, are not found anywhere else. One of them is the Ortolan Bunting Emberiza hortulana, which is sadly on the brink of extinction in the country. Only a few breeding pairs persist in an area of extensive dry grassland in southwest Slovenia. Another rare species is the Short-toed Eagle Circaetus gallicus which hunts over large stony grasslands. Tawny Pipit Anthus campestris is also restricted to dry open areas of the Karst and is nowhere common. Of the more abundant species of karstic grasslands we also need to mention Hoopoe Upupa epops, Red-backed Shrike Lanius collurio, Corn Bunting Emberiza calandra, Cirl Bunting Emberiza cirlus, Nightjar Caprimulgus europaeus, Woodlark Lullula arborea, Skylark Alauda arvensis and Melodious Warbler Hippolais polyglotta. In some areas a few tiny residual populations of the once-common Rock Partridge Alectoris graeca are still to be found, although increasingly difficult to observe.