Move to the Aggtelek

Following a very noisy thunderstorm in the night, a walk round the area and another hearty breakfast we set off for our next stop driving through some lovely Beech woods after which the Bukk National Park is named. Stop in Eger for wine tasting, We made a few stops on the way and scanned for Moufflon as well as checking out Marbled White butterfly and flower filled road and track edges.
Our first stop was at a park centre where there was a children's summer camp and a ringing demonstration with the majority of birds being Great Tits. We also saw 1 Marsh Tit and 1 Tree Creeper. Scanning with the torches in the crevasses under the tiles found 40-50 Pipistrelle roosting. Some of the children took a keen interest in seeing the bats as did some of the adults. We were invited to do a net round and it was interesting to see the methods used and the poles.
We stopped in a town for ice creams where the choice was bewildering, such as melon, pistachio, apple, chocolate, poppy seed, and you can buy single or double so the choice of combinations is great.








Our next stop was down a gravel track towards some settling pools. In the fields were several Great White Egrets, Grey Heron and on the wires were Bee eaters and Turtle Doves. Parking near the reservoir we scanned round as a Sea Eagle took off and flew across the fields to a dead tree. Walking round the reservoir to some pools and scanned through the fence. Black Stork and Garganey flew over head and Black-winged Stilt, Wood Sandpiper, Common Sandpiper, Ruff, Greenshank were feeding in the shallows. Several butterflies were flying, including Large Copper, which was nice to see.
We settled into our new hotel, had dinner at 6.30 and then met Sandor at 8.00 for mist netting on the River Joszevo. Noctules were the main species with Leischler's and a Daubenton's recorded. We returned to the hotel around midnight and turned in after another great day.




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Day 2

Following a breakfast that covered just about any combination of possible breakfast dishes and the provision of lunch from the buffet, we set off for a walk through some woodland and upland pastures. The tracks through the woods were alive with butterflies, Meadow Brown, Common Glider, and Silverwashed Fritilleries zipping about along the open edges. A Duke of Burgundy settled for a short spell and some seeps had butterflies clustering on the ground, Dryad, Map, Great Banded Grayling, Grayling, Short-tailed Blue, Wood White. Further up the hillside the woodland gave way to pastures where a heard of Hungarian Grey Cattle were grazing and a colony of bee-eaters were flying overhead. We walker over to the pool where they had nested but all the young had fledged. We had Red-underwing Skipper and a possible Chalkhill blue. Among the flowers there was Proliferous Pink, Deptford Pink and spiked Restharrow. Sandor took pity on us and went ahead to fetch the van.
We drove to a Neolithic cave at Suma which was about 100 yds straight up a rocky path and then a short scramble into the cave where there were Lesser Horseshoe with a single Greater horseshoe. Coming back down we headed to a small cafe for lunch and an ice-cream.

















Our next stop was to check a gate for access in the evening and then on to a small slate mine with another scramble over a stream and down a slope through a low arch, which held 2 Lesser Horseshoe bats. It also held a couple of cave dwelling Tissue moths. The temperature in these caves dropped amazingly.





Back to the hotel for another lovely swim, huge dinner and then out for some mist netting in a new location.
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Hungarian Small Mammal Trip

An early morning flight from Stansted to Budapest went very smoothly after a half hour wait to check in the luggage and a very speedy trip through security. Our guide, Sandor Boldog collected us at the airport and we were soon off to the 'museum' area where we had great views of European Suslik. As with most wildlife this little mammal is threatened in the wild through increased agrification and loss of grazing herds keeping the grassland sward short enough for them.





We drove to our first accommodation in the Bukk Hills past fields of droopy headed sunflowers, maize and dry, harvested wheat fields with a tea stop and chat about the itinerary.
As there was plenty of time we called into a possible roost in cracks under a bridge. We came off the motorway and drove through the countryside turning down a field track to park by a small ditch with a bridge. The ground was damp and sticky but a little patience and a good torch found 2 Lesser Short-eared bats peering out from there cool hiding place although there were a lot of droppings on the ground.
We headed further down the road to a reservoir where we startled a deer which quickly disappeared. A short stop found lots of grey Heron, a Spoonbill, Wood Sandpiper and Lapwing with White Wagtail and Yellow Wagtail along the water's edge. We found a blue butterfly and a possible Small Heath but they were so active that they were difficult to identify.
We arrived at Nomad Pension which is situated at the head of a lovely valley surrounded by woodland with lots of bird sounds. You can stay in the pension, camp or even go glamping. After a quick, very refreshing dip in the pool we gathered for a mammoth meal with pork chunk soup, duck legs and beef slices plus vegetables, chips and boiled potatoes, followed by apple tart.
We then met up at 9.30 and drove up to a small pond where Sandor set up a mist net and we soon started catching a variety of bats which come to the pool to drink before setting off to feed. Sandor puts the bats into special paper bags for a short time so that he can collect droppings for later analyse for evidence of viruses. The first bat was a Common Pipistrelle followed by Barbestelle, which looks like a bulldog, Whiskered, Serotine, Noctule, Geffroy's, and Bechstein's with a possible Daubenton heard on the bat scanner. We packed up around 11.30 and headed home.


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