5.8.: Coming from Slovakia my next stop is Aggtelek National Park in Northern Hungary. I stay at a lovely hostel, where I am the only guest. It rains and I decide: It‘s a cave day.
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There are a few around, and after a short walk through the forest I stand at the entrance of the first one. After 20 metres of crawling, I notice fresh digging activity – and at the same moment some grumbling noices. It had taken me minutes to evolve a scrambling technique that saves my camera, torch and pants from mud, but it takes only seconds to get out of that cave again …
The noice could have come from a bear, which are certainly common north of the border in Slovakia and could appear in Northern Hungary too. But I suppose a badger is more likely. The second cave is even less accessible – unless you are a speleologist with appropriate gear. I find the lower jaw of a young Wild Boar (Sus scrofa) at the entrance. The third cave is buried – and I am not in the mood anymore to dig out a bear.
Back at the guesthouse, I talk to Anna, the caretaker. She tells me that the building harbours a bat colony under the roof. Anna shows me the way to the stairs and calls it a day. She slips a key ring into my hands and says: “It’s all yours. I am back tomorrow at eight.” Wow! O.k., let’s play with the bats.
The bats under the roof are Lesser Horseshoes (Rhinolophus hipposideros) – maybe a hundred. The roof is low and some of the bats hang at eye level. Great to watch! (It is for the safety of the bats, that I don’t want to write down here, where exactly I stayed.)
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There are also scats of a Stone Marten (Martes foina). Bird of the day is a Sombre Tit, feeding on a Siberian Thistle.
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Later the night brings it to light: two or more European badgers (Meles meles) in the garden; a Red Fox(Vulpes vulpes), many Wood Mice – probably all Apodemus flavicollis, a Brown Rat (Rattus norwegicus) and a Field Vole (Microtus agrestis).
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And the bat detector lists: Common Pipistrelle (Pipistrellus pipistrellus) and Soprano Pipistrelle (Pipistrellus pygmaeus). And there is potential for more species as I record also Parti-coloured Bat (Vespertilio murinus) and Lesser Noctule (Nyctalus leisleri). But both species I get to see on the detector only once. At 1:30 I call it a day.
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6.8.: I take it easy this morning. Birds that join me for breakfast are a juvenile Green Woodpecker and a weight-lifting Eurasian Jay.
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And the tour must go on! Next stop is another cave near Lillafüred in Bükki National Park. It is an easy to enter cave with a high ceiling – at least for the first 30 metres. There is a cluster of far more than 100 bats.
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Most of them are probably Mediterranean Horseshoe Bat (Rhinolophus euryale). Within the cluster I identify one Common bent-wing Bat (Miniopterus schreibersii).
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I get a single Lesser Horseshoe (Rhinolophus hipposideros). One other horseshoe has a very contrasty pelage. Could it be a Mehely’s Horseshoe Bat (Rhinolophus mehelyi), which is not known so far north? Eventually it turns out to be a Mediterranean Horseshoe Bat.
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Moreover the bat detector indicates: Soprano Pipistrelle (Pipistrellus pygmaeus) and a Daubenton’s Bat (Myotis daubentonii), which I can’t detect visually.
In the afternoon I drive towards Hortobagy National Park. At the visitor information centre in they send me to Szálka halom nature trail to see Souslik.
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The trail leads to a grove and then gets lost. Behind is a agricultural complex in a rather depressing state: Some buildings have fallen into ruins; tons of dung pile up; where there should be the nature trail, there are only tractor tracks. Hundreds of rooks contribute to the gloomy atmosphere. Later I read the colony here is Hungary’s largest. Ground squirrels don’t show up. I find not a single animal. This area is so small, at the visitor centre they must have known that this species is gone.
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What makes my day is the colony of Red footed Falcons, which the grove at Szálka halom is also famous for.
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An information board says, numbers are declining, but I find many juvenile birds, that are easy to approach. Beautiful birds!
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At sunset I wait at a lookout for my mammals. A few European Hares (Lepus europaeus) and Roe Deer(Capreolus capreolus) are around, but not many. Later at night not a single rodent appears. On the way back I find at least two Northern white-breasted Hedgehogs (Erinaceus roumanicus).
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The younger of the two lets me see its incisors.
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7.8. I start early to walk along the so called fish ponds, which are famous for their birds. Mammal-wise you could mention some domesticated water buffalos, a slimy scat of a mustelid and some borrows of voles. After breakfast I stop at one other site, a watch tower at 47.590737, 21.343539, where I see a herd of Hungarian Steppe Cattle in the distance. Then I’m off to Romania.
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11.8. In the evening I am back from Romania. I arrive at the Hortobagy campground and soon after I go on a night walk just opposite the camp. I see roe deer, hares and a hedgehog. Again I don’t find mice, except one, which is so deep behind twigs, that I can’t id it. On my way back I find myself blocked by a swamp and eventually inside a private property in front of a gate – from the inside! An automatic light turns on, dogs bark, and I just can’t help myself, but climb over the gate. Puh! I wouldn’t have blamed the dogs, if they ripped off my pants …
12.8. I visit the village of Konya, where I have again the chance to marvel at Hungarian Steppe Cattle. Again many buildings are in ruins.
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Last stop in Hortobagy National Park is the Kaparó Csárda area. Kaparó Csárda is a restaurant. Just opposite sand used to be excavated, leaving steep walls, ideal for Sand Martins and Bee-eaters to nest in. But again the site is in poor condition. Since it is man-made, it has to be maintained. Instead I find the pit overgrown. If nothing happens, the birds will soon disappear.
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Summary Hortobagy National Park
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Hortobagy is supposed to be Europe’s “largest and most noted steppe in Central Europe” (german Wikipedia entry). As I see it, the National Park is in a very poor state. Where there could be thousands of ungulates – Roe Deer, Red Deer, Przewalski’s horses, back-bred Tarpan, maybe even Saiga, instead there is not much to find.
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The European Ground Squirrel should have it’s stronghold here – with its entourage of steppe polecats, stoats and jackals. Instead there is nothing.
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Road 33 dissects the landscape. There are no wildlife fences, no overpasses and no real parking bays for wildlife and bird viewing, instead it is a road of death.
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In my dreams I see a billionaire bringing back the animals to Hortobagy, establish wildlife safaris and turning the run-down farm buildings into wildlife viewing lodges. I am sure Hortobagy is THE place in Europe to prove that mammal watching can recover the economy.
It’s already afternoon when I start to drive towards Lake Balaton.
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I arrive in the evening in the southwestern corner of this national park, just as a nature photographer gets back to his car. I start a conversation and he shows me some pictures of a jackal on his camera. Wow, that’s promising!
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I start a night walk. It is hot, calm, humid and the mosquitos have a hard time to find a spot in my face that is yet not occupied by their own kind. My wildlife encounters start with a European Hare young Roe Deer with many Red Deer (30+) to follow. Late at night I get a possible canid. But it is too far away and to short to be sure it is a jackal.
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It is a perfect night for bats. Between 22:09 and 22:21 – in just 12 minutes – my detector lists eight species:
Bechstein’s Myotis (Myotis bechsteinii) – germ.: Bechsteinfledermaus;
Lesser Noctule (Nyctalus leisleri) – germ.: Kleine Abendsegler;
Kuhl’s Pipistrelle (Pipistrellus kuhlii) – germ.: Weißrandfledermaus,
Particoloured Bat (Vespertilio murinus) – germ.: Zweifarbfledermaus;
Nathusius’ Pipistrelle (Pipistrellus nathusii) – germ.: Rauhautfledermaus;
Common Serotine (Eptesicus serotinus) – germ.: Breitflügelfledermaus;
Soprano Pipistrelle (Pipistrellus pygmaeus) – germ.: Mückenfledermaus;
Daubenton’s Myotis (Myotis daubentonii) – germ.: Wasserfledermaus
13.8.: During the morning walk I document a vey nice Roe Deer buck, nervously running around. Obviously it is still rutting season. Some late Red Deer vanish into the forest. So does a Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes). And while I enjoy my muesli for breakfast at around 8 am a River Otter (Lutra lutra) trotts across a nearby mowed meadow, about 200 metres away from the next creek – a real highlight!
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