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.




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

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.
-Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

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.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Last morning

Following an excellent breakfast with a wide choice, including several cereals, eggs, bacon, sausages and pancakes with jam and cream plus breads and croissants we negotiated the secure parking area, loaded up the car and headed out to look for a small nature reserve where we hoped to find Slavonian Grebe.

We followed the instruction in the Gosney Southern Finland book and found the place to park. The reserve is situated beside a large power station complex with a walk along a river and all round the two ponds. We had Great Reed Warbler

Heading Home

We got up and sorted out a cup of tea and breakfast, settled up and loaded the car, but spent some time in the car watching the feeding areas. The northern Bullfinches were stunning, a small flock of Siskin and Greenfinch with a couple of Yellowhammers, hopped about,







and at least 4 Red Squirrels gave a really entertaining time.




Eventually we decided we had to get going so we hit the road for the 8 hour drive back to Helsinki, with a couple of short stops to stretch our legs and change drivers. We saw a Gooseander and WhooperSwan as well as the expected Goldneye and some lovely flowers along the roadside.








After driving round Helsinki looking for hotels we found one just outside and booked in for a nice early night and a good night's sleep.

Looking for Elk

We settled into Sabrina's house, checking out the feeders and nest boxes, where we saw Greenfinch, Chaffinch, Siskin, Blue and Great Tit and Northern Bullfinch with Pied Flycatcher in one of the nest boxes and then spent the afternoon catching up on some sleep before a lovely 'Finnish' meal of tomato soup, grated potato and ham with lettuce and a beet root salad and a special desert of warmed feta-like cheese and cloudberry jam which was very nice.
As the weather forecast for the area with the flying squirrels was so dire we decided not to try but to have a drive round to see Elk and anything else that was about. The first thing we did was to walk 100yds into the edge of the forest with a short ladder which Sabrina setup against a tree with an owl box on it. Climbing the ladder and peering in we could see 3 nearly fledged Tengmalm's Owls. There had been 5 eggs and 4 chicks hatched but only 3 survived and One of the owlets had a deformed beak so hopefully it will be Ok.


We spent a little time trying to see the adults but no luck so we set off towards Kajanni driving some forest tracks and stopping and listening every now and then. We had 6 Elk with one mother and calf and 3 Mountain hares.








One place we visited was a private reserve of a flooded peat bog which had a tower hide
Which we climbed giving great views across the lake. There were a pair of Cranes and a pair of Whooper Swans as well as several Mallard, Teal, Tufted Duck and Goldeneye, one other with 2 ducklings which she shepherded across the track and back, at one point with them both in her back.








A possible owl sound had us trekking through the moss and fallen branches but no sound again so we made our way back to the car, finding a small patch of Violets along with the Chickweed Wintergreen, Bog Rosemary and Labrador Tea that seem to grow everywhere in the wet forests.
Returning to the house at around midnight there was a very unexpected Hedgehog feeding on the seeds and a lot of alarming near the owl nest box but still no sign of the adults. So we turned in for a relatively early night before our long drive south.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Hide 12

A night in hide 12 was much more comfortable as the window was a little lower and I could see out although the cabin was a little snugger. It is placed a little bit away from the pool looking across the wet meadows towards the rock outcrop and the woods. The weather started out grey and cloudy but cleared towards late evening after threatening a storm and giving us a rainbow. The advantages of hide 12 is that as the temperature dropped the mist rose over the lake and drifted along the back but our view remained clear.

We had some long waits and not much to look at as most of the gulls and crows stayed around the lake but we did have 2 sightings of fox and a young bear with a pale, sandy 'shawl' marking across it's back came down the rocks but went off to the west fairly quickly and a young, pale coloured bear came and went several times through the evening.

Around 1 o'clock another, larger, darker bear came down the rocks and started to amble across the meadow. It explored the area and went off to the east but soon came back, appearing through the bushes about 15yds away, too close for the cameras!! It stood and stared in our direction before crossing in front of the hide and feeding at various places across the meadow for about the next hour while the younger bear moved around behind but keeping a respectful distance.
Brilliant.

We walked back to the center at 7.00am and, although there had been no Wolverine, the bears had been amazing.

After breakfast we pottered around sorting out our packing and we walked down to the feeder hide but there wasn't a lot of activity so we decided to move on as we had arranged to be at Sabrina's at around 1 o'clock. The weather deteriorated and a real storm broke over us as we were driving out from Liinterra with lightneing and thunder crashing in seconds overhead, making the car vibrate so we called it a day and went back to sit in the parking space outside Sabrina's until it virtually stopped before dashing to the door and booking in.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad