Location: Hajdú-Bihar county Map
Area: 800 km²
Hortobagy National Park is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve situated in a Hajdú-Bihar county in Hungary. Hortobagy National Park covers an area of 800 km². Every year the plains of the protected area is flooded by river Tisza turning this land into a fertile ground for Hungarian Grey Cattle. Huge herds were rounded up by Hungarian version of cowboys who became famous for their horseback riding skills and unique outfits. Unfortunately a dam was constructed in the area of Hortobagy National Park in 1846. This stopped regular flooding of the plains and greatly affected biosphere of the region as well as regular peasants. Only in the 50's of the last century some attempts to restore previous biodiversity and way of life were initiated. Many channels were dug to create alternative routes for deliverance of water to the region. It yielded good results. Now over 350 species of birds come back to the protected wetlands of Hortobagy National Park to nest here and raise their young.
Location
Its area of operation includes
Hajdú-Bihar, Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok, and Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg
counties, as well as the small slice of Lake Tisza in Heves county
(Lake Tisza bird sanctuary).
The Hortobágy National Park
Directorate is located in the nature conservation management of the
largest grassy steppe in Central Europe, the national park in
Hortobágy, 4 landscape protection districts and 19 independent
nature conservation areas. The entire area of the national park is
a biosphere reserve, under the Ramsar Convention, its aquatic
habitats
the Hortobágyi-Halastó
Zám-puszta
Pentezug-puszta (Wildlife Sanctuary)
Angel's House-plain
the
Egyek-Pusztakócsi swamps
the northern part of Lake Tisza (Lake
Tisza Bird Sanctuary)
the central part of Lake Tisza (Poroszló
Basin)
Work chapel
they are also protected internationally.
Here, hunting of water birds is prohibited all year round.
The Hortobágy is a landscape that is endowed with its unique
history, valuable wildlife and unique folk tradition with
characteristic Hungarian features. The former wooded steppe was
still under the influence of the Tisza adventuring in the Great
Plain a few hundred years ago. Man played a decisive role in the
formation of the landscape. Today's image was formed with the water
management of the 19th century (regulation of rivers, drainage of
swamps), grazing livestock, deforestation and burning of forests,
the effect of which evokes the atmosphere of the eastern steppes.
The names of the once flourishing settlements, which were destroyed
during the Turkish occupation, are preserved by the names of
wilderness parts.
The surface of the Hortobágy was shaped by
the floods of the Tisza and its tributaries into an almost perfect
plain. Viewed from above, the landscape is like a huge carpet, in
the middle the Hortobágy River meanders like a silver ribbon. The
area of the national park is flat, only in some places low mounds
stand out. These so-called kunhalmas (scientifically known as
kurgans) were formed by human hands, built by guard nomads from the
eastern steppes in the Middle Copper Age as guard hills or burial
sites (mound tombs).
The swamps of the Hortobágy do not come
from the changes of the Tisza, but of the Sajó or Hernád riverbeds.
Most of the sediment comes from Bükk and further north, not from the
Tisza. The appearance of the Tisza in the area did not cause any
significant change, so Hortobágy can be closely related to the
Mezőség in Borsod, which was not affected by the appearance of the
Tisza. The previously believed lateral erosion of the Tisza did not
take place, the change of bed was a rapid process, the river did not
sideways along the landscape, it did not fill it substantially, and
not at the beginning of the Holocene, but approx. It occupied its
course today, 20,000 years or more ago. According to measurements,
Polgár has been around the current riverbed for at least 16,000
years.
Habitats
Much of the area of the national park is
a saline-filled pasture covered with short grass, and only a small
portion is arable land wedged in smaller patches. The rest of the
countryside is made up of fishponds, swamps, backwaters and reeds.
In addition, there are some settlements, roads and, to a lesser
extent, forests (residual, planted, floodplain forests) in the area.
There are four habitat types here:
saline steppes,
loess
steppes,
swamps,
floodplains.
The soil started to saline
due to large drains and river regulations. Mineral salts precipitate
from the water that evaporates from the soil and accumulate in the
top layer of the soil. This significantly reduces soil fertility.
The uppermost loose layer of saline soil degrades, for example, when
exposed to rain, resulting in level differences of a few cm, the
paddocks being flat. These small level differences are also of great
importance for vegetation.
The stocks of loess steppes have
survived on the kunhalmas. Habitats left on the Tiszacsege
floodplain, which evoke the image before the regulation of the
Tisza, remained.
Flora
Despite the fact that the Hortobágy
is not a climatic steppe, due to its specific water balance, most of
it is still covered by grassland associations. The flora of
Hortobágy is colored by water lilies, buttercups, geraniums, water
ruca joy and frog eggs. The dry steppe is adorned with saline asters
and salt flowers.
Loess steppe grasslands
Remains of loess
steppe meadows can be found on the flat ridges and mounds
(Szálka-mound, Hip-mound, etc.) mostly covered with rock flour.
In this species-rich association it occurs en masse:
steppe
fescue (Festuca rupicola),
Deres tarack wheat (Elymus hispidus),
curling orphan hair (Stipa capillata) (in places).
Different sage species are common:
sage (Salvia
nemorosa),
Austrian sage (Salvia austriaca),
field sage
(Salvia pratensis).
Other association species:
tarragon
(Agropyron pectinatum),
common wine (Thalictrum minus).
Rare and valuable plants:
catfish,
Hungarian carnation
(Dianthus pontederae).
Dominant species of lesser species of
loess pastures:
star lawn (Cynodon dactylon),
slender perch
(Poa angustifolia),
lean cuckoo (Festuca pseudovina).
Saline
steppes
Salt and drought tolerant plants live on salinized soils,
typically on solonetz soils. Typical plants of such saline meadows
are the saline asters (Aster tripolium ssp. Pannonicum) and the
saline marsh (Peucedanum officinale). One of the guarantees of the
survival of the saline steppes is the regular chewing and tipping of
the grazing animals.
As the humus content of the soil
decreases, the loess steppe grass is replaced by the grassy saline
steppe.
Its main association plant
steppe yarrow (Achillea
setacea),
sparrows (Festuca pseudovina).
Other species:
forked buttercup (Ranunculus pedatus).
On inferior saline soils,
an earthy saline steppe forms. Major plants:
Festuca pseudovina
(association-forming),
Salem worm (Artemisa marítima)
(associate),
Hungarian salt flower (saline salt flower, Limonium
gmelini ssp. hungaricum).
saliva (Festuca pseudovina),
Barren saline
On barren salines (depending on their water
coverage), two major plant communities alternate:
Honeysuckle
vegetation (Puccinellietum limosae) develops on water-level saline
flats and solonetz soils. Humus A level is missing from its soil
profile; salts accumulate on the surface. Only a few species can
withstand high salinity; typically:
saline honeysuckle
(Puccinellia limosa),
marsh mite (Eleocharis palustris),
Saxony (Juncus gerardii),
saline plantain (Plantago maritima),
snake tail (Pholiurus pannonicus),
Cress (Lepidium crassifolium),
St. John's wort (Myosurus minimus),
saline (Lotus tenuis),
Thin plantain (Plantago tenuiflora),
medical grass (chamomile,
Matricaria recutita).
It “blinds” in the valleys of the swallows,
on the extremely salty soil, and only the lamb shoots live on it.
Saline swamp and surroundings
The saline swamp of the Swallow
Meadow is located in the deepest part of the steppe. Going out of
the open water swamp, the following associations follow each other:
reeds,
mat,
saline reeds,
saline poop,
caterpillar
saline meadow (on poorer quality soils),
brush lawn saline meadow
(right ground).
Saline oaks
The remnants of the saline
oaks on the bare edge are the Ohati Forest and the Forbidden Forest
in Újszentmargita. In spring, the dwarf almonds (Prunus tenella),
spring starflowers and barley celtics (Corydalis cava) adorn the
forest. Later, the veiled female petal (Iris spuria) and the
Hungarian chamois flower (Doronicum hungaricum) open.
Floodplains
Carnations (Cucubalus baccifer) and hedgerows
(Calystegia sepium), hedgehogs (Echinocystis lobata) live in the
floodplains in the shade of old trees. In the backwaters, the
protected cicada (Cicuta virosa), white water lily (Nymphaea alba)
and watercress (Nuphar) occur. In the swampy, wetlands there are
marsh (Carex elata), marsh stork (Caltha palustris), marsh female
(Iris pseudacorus), in the deeper waters reed (Phragmites
australis), tern (Trapa natans), rence, colocan (Stratoides
aloides), Nymphoides peltata).
In the meadows hidden among
the forests, the flowers of the black nightshade (Symphytum
officinale), the yellow female petal (Iris pseudacorus), the meadow
fescue (Clematis integrifolia) bloom in the spring, and the daisies
on the banks of the Tisza (Leucanthemella serotina) bloom in late
summer.
Fauna
Floodplain forests and smaller round forests
sporadically inside the wilderness are home to species-rich heron
colonies, but are also famous for their rare birds of prey. Besides
the blue vultures, a Saker falcon and an imperial eagle live here.
The steppe buzzard nested here for the first time in Hungary.
The mounds of kurgans are inhabited by ground squirrels, quails,
weasels and ermines. This is where our largest bird, the bustard,
lives. The birds of the dry, grassy steppes are the quail, the
captive, the capercaillies, the dwindling number of birds of the wet
steppes are the barn owl, our bird rarity, the scorpion sparrow,
nests on barren salines. The dreaded bird rarity of meadows is the
striped-headed reed warbler.
Swamps and fishponds support a
rich waterfowl world, with more than 330 species of birds living
here. In spring and autumn, tens of thousands of migratory birds
rest in the area, accompanied by rare birds of prey. Hortobágy is
the largest "bird hostel" in the country. In autumn, the migration
of cranes and wild geese can be observed.
Its open water surfaces are cormorants, brown
meadowsweet, ducks, warts, sooty, bastard, and white-winged
edifiers; they are favorable for red-necked and black-necked grebe,
and in the shallower water reeds they spend a bull, a great egret, a
spoonbill, a very rare bat, a summer goose and a large number of
reed warblers. The treasures of the grove forests used to be mixed
heron colonies, which have now moved to the reeds. Black storks and
birds of prey also nest here. The bee and the kingfisher spend their
time in the high banks of the Tisza.
In forests, fallen trees
rot locally, providing living conditions for waiter species. The
forest glider and the forest owl also occur here.
Farm
animals
The importance of brittle animal husbandry has declined
to this day, although the most important economic branch today is
animal husbandry. Today, ancient Hungarian gray cattle gulls, rack
mothers, mangalica, Hungarian half-breed horse breeds, imperial
poultry breeds (Hungarian goose with ruffled feathers) and Hungarian
shepherd dogs, pulit, pumi, mud are kept mainly for gene
conservation and tourism reasons. the kuvasz and komondor. The
kuvasz, the komondor, protected the accommodation, the flock the
puli, the pumi, and the mudi.
Landscape Protection Areas
The Satu Mare-Bereg Landscape Protection Area was established in
1982 in the Satu Mare and Bereg plains. The mosaic-structured
landscape protection area is located on the outskirts of 37
settlements, its center is located in Fehérgyarmat, in one place
with a permanent exhibition presenting the values of the area. It
covers 22,246 hectares, of which 2,307 hectares enjoy enhanced
protection. The area is home to the valuable wildlife of the Tisza,
Szamos and Túr areas.
Central Tisza Landscape Protection Area
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Area
The landscape protection area established in 1978 on the
floodplain between Tiskza Kisköre and Tiszaug preserves the
secondary landscape formed on 9,500 hectares in about a hundred
years after the regulations. Within this, the Pély Bird Sanctuary,
the Óballai and Vezsenyi Nature Reserve, and then the Tiszakécske
Partifecske Telep are highly protected.
Hajdúság Landscape
Protection Area
The hilly, wooded Hajdúság Landscape Protection
Area was established in 1988 in 22 separate areas covering 7,000 ha.
Its surface was formed by the northern winds of the last ice age,
the so-called so-called. with parabolic mounds, between which there
are depressions and valleys in the NE-SW direction. These wet,
stagnant, “birch-water flats” may have formed in the later cool-wet
period, and until the water level of today they provided shelter for
the life of this former age even in the drier, warmer periods.
Bihari Plain Landscape Protection Area
The landscape
protection area covers four landscape units, parts below Hajdúság,
the cross-border area of Érmellék, to the south the Bihari plain,
the northern, undulating landscape of Berettyó, and to the west, the
northern part of the former Nagy-Sárrét. Some of the protected areas
of the Bihari plain evoke Hortobágy: a flat, dry, saline region for
most of the year, with mosaic vegetation.
Nature reserves
Baktalórántházi Forest Nature Reserve
The forest lies to the west
of Baktalórántháza, in a north-south direction, the contiguous
forest covers more than 1,300 hectares, only part of which is
protected.
Bátorliget Nature Reserve
In the area of
Bátorliget, there are currently 3 nature conservation areas of
national importance and several wetlands, which are also considered
protected.
Bihari Pasture Nature Reserve
Nature
Conservation Area of National Importance since 1986.
Much
of the pasture area is dotted with saline, swampy and loess patches.
There are several charged backwaters in the area.
Cégénydányád Castle Park Nature Reserve
Courtesy of the park
builders, the magnificent tulip tree, sycamore, fern, lily tree,
false cypress, yew tree, cyclamen blooms under the foliage.
Debrecen Great Forest Nature Reserve
It is the first nature
conservation area in Hungary. In the undergrowth of its
lily-flowered oak patches, the downy Celtic, the Hungarian female
petal, the grove starflower and the Debrecen warbler also occur.
Egyek-pusztakócs swamps Nature Reserve: the remains of the once
nearly ten thousand hectare swamp world with an educational trail.
Light Forest Nature Reserve
The diverse vegetation of the
forest consists of oak-ash-elm grove forest, lily-of-the-valley oak,
birch bog, steppe sand oak and interlocking sand lawn details.
Hajdúbagos Land Dog Reserve Nature Reserve
The reserve
includes the most significant surviving habitat of an extinct land
dog, already unknown to the north and west of here.
Hencidai Exchange Forest Nature Reserve
One of
the beautiful representatives of the saline oak oaks that have
dwindled to this day. In its spring flower flood we find the
Hungarian chamois flower, greyhound wine and tuberous stone grass.
Lake Mohos Nature Reserve in Kállósemjén
The alternating open
water surface of the lake willow and reed stands bordered by the
sand hills. The lake, which has dried up in recent decades, needs to
be reconstructed.
Kaszonyi Hill Nature Reserve
The
southern half of the island volcano, which is mostly composed of
rhyolite, falls on the border of the village of Barabás. Outstanding
among the diverse values of its area are the oak patches of silver
linden-spear-armed oak.
Kecskeri Puszta Nature Reserve
The
protected area includes a lake system surrounded by saline
grasslands, with swamps on the west side that are rich in birdlife.
Tiszadobi Floodplain Nature Reserve
It is a weave of varied,
fresh, mostly old floodplain forest patches and moths. Heron colony
is of significant value.
Tiszadorogmai Göbe Forest Nature
Reserve
It remains a beautiful piece of our once more extensive
floodplain forests. In addition to the birdlife corresponding to the
habitat, the flora of the Tisza, the horseradish of Debrecen and the
corncrake are worth mentioning among its flora.
Tiszaigari
Arboretum Nature Reserve
It is a rich collection of live trees,
the most striking detail of which, in addition to its many
attractions, is the large swampy cypress stock.
Tiszatelek-Tiszaberceli Floodplain Nature Reserve
It is a mosaic
of soft and hard-walled groves, backwaters and meadows, famous
notably for its large earlings.
Tiszavasvár White-Sikh Nature
Reserve
It is the northernmost member of the Great Plain chain.
Its value is given by its birdlife, but its presence depends on the
current rainfall and groundwater conditions.
Lake Vaja Nature
Reserve
Its values are basically given by the floating bog and
the plant rarities that occur on it, such as the crested shield, the
largest domestic stock of which lives here, the onion peel, as well
as the creeping nettle and the fibrous shield.
Zádor Bridge
and Surroundings Nature Reserve
The oldest of the two most famous
stone bridges in the Hortobágy area. It was originally nine-hole,
too, but the great flood of 1830 swept away the two outer pillars of
each, and has since been five-hole. It has been dry for a long time.