Courtesy of Samuel Hood. Under the Hood Photography. Spoonbills.
Garden watching early morning was rewarding again with
sightings including Middle Spotted Woodpecker, Serin and Hawfinch. Later we had the daily sighting of Eastern Imperial Eagle. The Black
Redstart was as usual about the main buildings. After breakfast we picked up our Hungarian
Guide, Atilla, and headed for the Hortobagy, well stocked with water. It was going to be a long day and
temperatures were going to be high.
Coutey of Samuel Hood. Under the Hood Photography. Middle Spotted Woodpecker.
We stopped for a coffee along the way. If I’d
closed my eyes I could have believed we
were with the Local RSPB Group as a cuppa is a priority there too! Soon afterwards we were watching our first Jackdaws and Rooks of the trip, but more impressively we were watching Red Footed Falcons. Next stop was to be the Halasto fish ponds,
but Graham asked Atilla if we could stop at the Bee Eater colony which we
did. Unfortunately there were few Bee Eaters here. Only a handful of Sand Martins too. Graham and
I reflected upon a much healthier colony of both species in 2008. We moved on to Halasto and we were to be well
rewarded.
Halasto is I believe Hungarian for fish ponds. Don’t let the term ‘pond’ fool you. This is a vast area of large lakes and a great habitat for
birds. The huge ponds are bordered by
reed-beds and the area is one of the largest of its kind in the world. A train service is provided on certain days
to take you to the end of the complex, but it wasn’t running today! The First World War provided a supply of
prisoners of war who were given the task of digging out these ponds by hand and
also the channel that feed them from the River Tisza. Before we began what was a long tiring walk,
Sam photographed another Swallowtail
Butterfly which was showing well. Large Copper Butterfly was also seen today.
Night Herons and Squacco Herons provided the first
excitement before we found numbers of Bearded
Tits (and listened to the ping ping call) moving through the reed- bed and
giving close up sightings. Pygmy Cormorant was soon added to our
trip list as were Mute Swan, Tufted Duck
and Great Crested Grebe with young
(a reminder of the local patch back
at home). A Water Rail was also heard.
There was no shortage of Little Egret,
Great White Egret, Grey Heron, Purple Heron and White Storks. Marsh Harriers were as usual showing
well. Boxes had been put up for Kestrels which were numerous and at
least one box was full of youngster’s peering out at us. Another family of Kestrels gathered on the ground.
We watched Lesser Grey Shrike
and Atilla pointed it out on its nest.
Courtesy of Samuel Hood. Under the Hood Photography. Night Heron.
Courtesy Of Samuel Hood. Under the Hood Photography. Great White Egret.
Courtesy of Samuel Hood. Under the Hood Photography. Common Darter.
The first tower hide we came to was inaccessible because of
broken steps. I felt it a pity that time
had not been taken to repair it, as it offered good views across the ponds and
it was clear that it hadn’t been broken recently. What amazes me is that in such a great area
for bird-watching you rarely see a birdwatcher.
Pygmy Cormorant
As Atilla spoke no English and Sam and I no Hungarian or
German we did most of our bird watching independently, although Graham took the
opportunity to brush up on his German and seemed to strike up an accord with
Atilla. Having re-started to read my
Crossbill Guide to the Hortobagy (an excellent guide for anyone visiting the
area) I see that it is likely the same Atilla that made a contribution to it as
did Rob de Jong. I have to say that Sam
and I soon found Black Terns and a White Winged Black Tern amongst the many Whiskered Terns and I’m pretty sure no one else in our party saw
these. I have to say though that Atilla
did find us a perched White Tailed Sea
Eagle which would not have been easy to find otherwise. Sam and I also found Bluethroat missed by everyone else and had stunning views of
it. We are thinking of putting our names
down as Hortobagy guides!
Hoopoe was seen
well today and Kingfisher
briefly. Penduline Tits were another star bird. Some other bird species seen at the ponds
included Greylag Geese, Teal, Tufted
Duck, Cormorant, Moorhen, Lapwing, Yellow Legged Gull, Turtle Dove, Cuckoo (H), Skylark, White Wagtail, Nightingale(H), Blackcap, Sedge Warbler, Marsh
Warbler, Grasshopper Warbler, Savi’s Warbler (H), Reed Warbler, Chiffchaff
(H), Red Backed Shrike, Hooded Crow,
House Sparrow, Tree Sparrow, Linnet,
Goldfinch, Reed Bunting and Yellowhammer. There were plenty of fish too, and large ones
at that. A couple of them managed to
throw themselves into a boat and strand themselves until Atilla threw them
back.
Courtesy Of Samuel Hood. Under the Hood Photography. Tree Sparrow.
The long walk was very tiring, especially with camera gear
and telescope to carry. Sam and I shared
the weight of the scope. I can
understand why Atilla chose a lightweight one!
Atilla returns the fish.
As we said good bye to the Water Buffalo (their effect
rather spoilt by yellow tags in their ears) we were now off for an evenings
hunt for Great Bustards. Now none of us
are sure if we entered the restricted area requiring a guide or not, but it
mattered little as it was a very nice area, although much of it had been
cultivated. The sun was beginning to
lower in the sky, but it was still very warm.
Thankfully everyone got to see Bluethroat
this evening and I reckon we found maybe two or three pairs. Stoat
and Brown Hare were also seen as was
a very nice Tree Frog found by a
companion in our group who had been making a search for them earlier in the
week.
Tree Frog
Fairly early on into the walk I picked up a Great Bustard in the telescope and
pointed it out to Sam. It was distant
and the heat waves did not make for good viewing, but it was otherwise a text
book sighting and unmistakeable (I’ve seen them on at least three occasions
before). I asked others to take a look,
but no one picked it up even in my scope.
I’m afraid Atilla didn’t understand me or perhaps doubted that I had
seen the bird as the Great Bustard hunt was finally written off as a failure
some time later. I don’t think by the
end of the evening when in my opinion the search was taking the wrong
direction, that anyone really cared as they were all so tired after a really
long day. The other couple in the party
said it all by drifting back to their vehicle and leaving Atilla on a raised
platform searching in vain. To be fair
to the guy did put the effort in. Sadly
I still believe he was looking in the wrong area. It had been another great day and at least
Sam and I had our Great Bustard
sighting to remember, even if it was a distant one.
A cultivated area of the Hortobagy but still attractive to wildlife.
On a sad note I had been sorry to learn from Rob at the
start of our trip that there are no Aquatic Warblers on the Hortobagy this
year. This seems to be connected to
climate change and certainly the dry spell of late.
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