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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