 Borzás Puszta, Hortobágy National Park.
Hungary 16-20 June 2007. A brief stay, before Évi and I went to Transylvania. We arrived to much hotter temperatures than in the UK, consistently over 30 degrees celcius and reaching 37 on 21 June as we left for Romania. We spent a lot of time with friends and Évi’s family but I managed a few excellent days birding/butterflying.
16 June 2007: Budapest to Debrecen (2000-2215) via the newly completed motorway, which now extends all the way to Hungary’s second city. Roadside birds before dark were Common Buzzard (4), Red-backed Shrike(2), Common Stonechat (1) & Hooded Crow (1).
17 June 2007: Debrecen. A hot and sunny day with hardly a cloud in the sky and 30+ celcius. In the early hours we arrived back Evi’s mum’s apartment after a night out to a Common Nightingale belting out its song from the edge of the Great Wood on the opposite side of the street!
Later (1100-1300) a walk in the dappled shade of the (not-so-)Great Wood produced Green (a juvenile) and Great Spotted Woodpeckers, Common Nightingale (another heard), Blackcap, Wood Warbler (1 watched singing), Chiffchaff, Spotted Flycatcher (common), Collared Flycatcher (female – surprisingly a new Hungarian bird for me on my fourteenth visit!), Marsh Tit, Eurasian Nuthatch, Red-backed Shrike (male), Rook, Hooded Crow, Golden Oriole (2 dashing through the canopy), Eurasian Tree Sparrow, European Serin and Hawfinch (both heard) of note plus a handful of butterflies in the darkness including Speckled Wood Pararge aegeria, Marbled White Melanargia galathea, Silver-washed Fritillary Argynnis paphia and Small White Artogeia rapae.
18 June 2007: Hortobágy National Park. An effortless 100-species-day, birding in my favourite place in the world (0830-1900). Hot and sunny, but clouding over in the afternoon with some very heavy downpours later. We made an extended transect from north to south starting at Kaba, then Borzás Puszta, Zám Puszta, Fényes Halastó (bright fish lake), Balmázújváros, Mágdolna Puszta, Vókonya (the amazing 1700ha area of puszta that Zoli and Jáno have been restoring via their EU LIFE fund project) and finally Nagyiván (Big Ivan) Puszta before heading back to Debrecen. With János Oláh and Zoltán Escedi.
Clockwise from top left - a flowery Borzás Pustza, Eurasian Spoonbills, the mighty Vokonya triple well (the only one of its kind on the Hortobágy) and a hairy Mangalica pig at Vokonya (renowned for their low cholesterol meat and a missing link between Wild Boar and the domesticated pig).
A great selection of birds included Black-necked Grebe (30+, Kaba), Great Crested Grebe (1, Fényes), Pygmy Cormorant (10+, Fényes), Great Bittern (1, Vókonya), Black-crowned Night Heron, Squacco Heron (1, Fényes), Little Egret, Great Egret, Purple Heron, White Stork, Black Stork (1, Zám Puszta, 1, Vókonya and 2, Nagyiván), Eurasian Spoonbill, Common Shelduck (3, Kaba), Garganey, Ferruginous Duck (41, Kaba), White-tailed Eagle (2 adults, Fényes), Short-toed Eagle (1, Nagyiván), Marsh Harrier (100+, ubiquitous!), Common Buzzard, Eurasian Sparrowhawk (1, Vókonya), Common Kestrel, Red-footed Falcon (male at Zám Puszta and 20+ at a colony), Eurasian Hobby (1, Kaba), Saker (1, on the edge of Balmáz. at Mágdolna Puszta, an adult sitting on the ground, surveying a Souslik ‘town’), Quail (heard, Vókonya), Pied Avocet, Black-winged Stilt, Little Ringed Plover, Northern Lapwing (200+ Kaba and 400+ Vókonya), Wood Sandpiper (1, Kaba and 2, Vókonya – the return wader passage had started), Green Sandpiper (3, Kaba and 1, Vókonya), Common Redshank, Spotted Redshank (5, Kaba, 20+ Borzás Puszta and 20+ Vókonya), Greenshank, Black-tailed Godwit (300+ Borzás Puszta and 20+ Vókonya), Eurasian Curlew, Whimbrel (1, Kaba), Common Snipe (2, Vókonya), Ruff (10+, Kaba, 7, Fényes and 4, Vókonya), Caspian Gull, Little Gull (1, Kaba and 1, Fényes), Common Tern (10+, Kaba), Black Tern, Whiskered Tern, Common Cuckoo, Common Swift, Eurasian Hoopoe (1, Nagyiván), European Roller (1, Borzás Puszta), Syrian Woodpecker (1, Balmázújváros), Yellow Wagtail (very common), Common Nightingale (1, Vókonya), Bluethroat (heard), Black Redstart (1, Fényes), Common Stonechat, Blackcap, Common Whitethroat, Sedge Warbler, Aquatic Warbler (2, singing), Savi’s Warbler (3 heard, Nagyiván), Marsh Warbler (1, Vókonya), Great Reed Warbler, Great Tit, Marsh Tit, Bearded Reedling (4, Zám Puszta), Penduline Tit (heard Fényes), Eurasian Nuthatch, Red-backed Shrike (30+), Lesser Grey Shrike (5), Rook, Hooded Crow, Golden Oriole (3), Eurasian Tree Sparrow and Corn Bunting. The only butterflies we saw were a few Eastern Bath Whites Pontia edusa and Small Heaths Coenonymphya pamphilus on the puszta, however we did see a few interesting dragonflies: Norfolk Hawker Aeshna isosceles (1, Zám Puszta), Lesser Emperor Anax parthenope (3, including a mating pair at Fényes Halastó), Hairy Dragonfly Brachytron pratense (1, Fényes Halastó) and Four-spotted Chaser Libellula quadrimaculata (2, Zám Puszta).
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Apparently enjoying an excellent breeding season on the Hortobágy this year with almost 250 pairs, Red-footed Falcon (female left, male right).
19 June 2007: Zemplén Hills and Tisza Valley. Hot and sunny all day, 35+ degrees celcius. Some birding and butterflying in the Zemplén Hills on either side of a great csárda lunch, finishing with an unsuccessful attempt to twitch a White Pelican in the Tisza Valley at Szentistván (St Stephen) with Zoltán Ecsedi, János Oláh, Zoltán Petrovics and Attila Simay today.
Birds included Black-crowned Night Heron, Little Egret, Great Egret, Grey and Purple Herons, White Stork, Eurasian Spoonbill, White-tailed Eagle (1, Szentistván), Short-toed Eagle (1, Szentistván), Marsh Harrier, Common Buzzard, Common Kestrel. Red-footed Falcon (3, Szentistván - sometimes called ‘the little Hortobágy’ with its small remnant patches of puszta and shallow lakes), Common Crane (8 over-summering birds at Szentistván), Pied Avocet, Black-winged Stilt, Northern Lapwing, Curlew Sandpiper (1, Szentistván), Common Redshank, Spotted Redshank, Marsh Sandpiper (1, Szentistván), Black-tailed Godwit, Caspian Gull, Black Tern, Whiskered Tern, Common Cuckoo, Eurasian Hoopoe, European Bee-eater (1, Tokaj), Wryneck (another soft Hu lifer!), Short-toed Lark (1, of the endangered hungarica subspecies, once widespread but now at only one remaining site in Hungary, near Nyíregyháza, singing high in the sky above corn fields – a hard Hu lifer!), Yellow Wagtail, Northern Wheatear (1, Szentistván), River Warbler (2, heard), Eurasian Nuthatch, Red-backed Shrike (still very common in the Zemplén), Rook, Hooded Crow and Yellowhammer (2 near Erdöbenye).
Scarce Swallowtail (Iphiclides podalirius), above and High Brown Fritillary (Argynnis adippe), below.
Butterflies stole the show today with a small selection of nice species on the warm calcaerous grassland and along the forest roadsides of the Zemplén Hills. Unfortunately we couldn’t find Zephyr Blue P. pylaon at a known site (maybe too late in such a hot summer?) however we did find our other big target today, Pallas’s Fritillary Argynnis laodice, a beautifully-marked eastern species with a classy name, which is at the western limit of its range in Hungary. At least 3 were taking salts from a forest road north of Erdöbenye. Jáno spotted some Purple Emperors whilst driving through a sunny glade along a quiet forest road so we stopped and got some good looks at these, as well as a few Silver-washed Fritillaries. After a while we noticed several dead fritillaries, presumably killed by cars speeding through the forest, one of which was a perfectly fresh Pallas’s. Fortunately this sad discovery was soon followed by some live ones!
Pallas's Fritillary (Argynnis laodice).
Other butterflies included: Swallowtail Papilio machaon (1), Scarce Swallowtail Iphiclides podalirius (1, Tokaj), Brimstone Gonepteryx rhammi (male), Green-underside Blue Glaucopsyche alexis (4, Tokaj), Silver-studded Blue Plebejus argus, Idas Blue Plebejus idas (3 very worn individuals at Tokaj, but still showing traces of the silver studs on the outer edge of the broad band of orange lunules on the hindwing underside and a row of heavy arrowheads on the inner side, ruling out P. pylaon), Purple Emperor Apatura iris (3, north of Erdöbenye) Red Admiral Vanessa atalanta, Peacock Inachis io, Comma Polygonum c-album, Silver-washed Fritillary Argynnis paphia, High Brown Fritillary Argynnis adippe, Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary Clossiana selene, Heath Fritillary Mellicta athalia (common on the grassland north of Erdöbenye), Marbled White Melanargia galathea, Great banded Grayling Kanetisa circe (1, north of Erdöbenye), Meadow Brown Maniola jurtina, Small Heath Coenonympha pamphilus and Small Skipper Thymelicus sylvestris.
Zemplén Butterflies. Clockwise from top left - Purple Emperor (Apatura iris), Silver-washed Fritillary (Argynnis paphia), Great Banded Grayling (Kanetisa circe) and Heath Fritillary (Mellicta athalia).
20 June 2007: Debrecen. Hot and sunny, 37 degrees celcius. Even shopping in the centre of the city today produced a very short list of birds that would be a great day in the UK. Crested Lark, Black Redstart and European Serin are all common and easy to see here. Despite the communist era tower block apartments (an acquired taste) modern Debrecen is an attractive place for a birder. Flocks of House Sparrows can still be seen, grass on the roadside verges is left to seed, weeds are not cleared from every corner and the wide boulevards are lined with trees - a complete contrast to today’s antisceptic UK.
Two of my best mates: János Oláh., left and Zoltán Ecsedi, right wearing a genuine csiko hat.
30 June 2007. Debrecen-Budapest. Another scorching day travelling from Debrecen to Budapest's Ferihegy Airport with some great birding at 120kmph+ on the motorway, including Common Buzzard (16), Marsh Harrier (3), Saker (1 carrying prey over the road infront of the car north of the Hortobagy National Park), Red-backed Shrike (14), Lesser Grey Shrike (1) and European Roller (2)!
Mike Watson, Clitheroe, Lancashire.
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