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Message: <blockquote data-quote="brianfm" data-source="post: 1229160" data-attributes="member: 11997">Day FiveToday was our trip to the Hortobagy (journey time around 90mins max).  It was a day that brought fine weather, a little disappointment, at times utter confusion, but wonderful highlights that will forever stay with me along with a fine list of birds.We began at the area which holds the colonies of Red Footed Falcons, Bee-Eaters and Sand Martins.  Great sightings were had of all three, with an especially good sighting of a male Red Footed Falcon hunting right in front of us.  Our first Little Bittern of the trip was seen from the hide.  We next moved to Halasto Fishponds.  We had initially planned to spend almost the whole day here, but for reasons beyond our control this was cut to a few hours and this is where the disappointment came in.  There was no way we were going to be able to do this area justice especially as the train was not running on weekdays.  However we did have some good birds including three Golden Orioles through the scope at close range.  I had the pleasure of sharing this with a very excited couple who looked through my scope.   It’s always a pleasure to see others excited by birds. Other birds included Great Crested Grebe, Cormorant, Little Bittern, Night Heron, Squacco Heron, Little Egret, Great White Egret, Grey Heron, Purple Heron, White Stork, Spoonbill, Mute Swan, Greylag Geese, Mallard, Tufted Duck, Ferruginous Duck, Marsh Harrier, Kestrel, Pheasant, Coot, Lapwing, Curlew, Black Headed Gull, Whiskered Tern, Common Tern, Cuckoo, Reed Warbler, Great Reed Warbler, Chiffchaff, Savi’s Warbler (H), Penduline Tit, Lesser Grey Shrike, Red Backed Shrike, Tree Sparrow, Goldfinch, Reed Bunting, Yellowhammer and Corn Bunting.  Sadly we only touched upon the area before we had to make for Hortobagy Village to meet out local guide kindly arranged for us by Rob.  We were meeting up with three other residents from Farm Lator, one of whom was B F s Stewart Reeves who we had met only that week when he arrived at Farm Lator.  These B F members seem to get every where.Now we come to the confusing bit which I won’t detail, but only say that to spend an hour with the guide driving like a bat out of hell up and down the main road is not my idea of fun.  I am actually thinking of writing up a comedy sketch about the whole incident.  I know I have lost you all, but as I say I won’t go into detail.  It was one of these incidents of great confusion which was no ones fault, but an Englishman, German and Hungarian communicating with one another, no matter how good the English, can I guess lead to misunderstanding.Now we come to the wonderful highlights of the entire week.  Incidentally you must have a guide to get to some of the better areas of the Hortobagy.  It was a perfect evening with perfect light and I have to say that even going up and down the road brought us Glossy Ibis, Pygmy Cormorant, Night Heron, Roller and Red Footed Falcon et al, along with advice for good viewing points from the guide who worked for a Great Bustard Project on the Hortobagy and had been to England and seen the Great Bustards on Salisbury Plain.  We were soon viewing the Great Bustards out on the putzsa and a great sighting it was too.  Far closer than those that I had seen in Spain on more than one occasion.  There were also Short Toed Eagles and Common Buzzards in view and we had a close sighting of a pristine Bluethroat (lifer) which was a text book bird and one of my top sightings of the week.As we moved across the putzsa the size of this whole area become more apparent.  It was a stunning sight and I related the experience to being out on the southern African plains.  The expansive views and the silence were tremendous.  The light was ideal and this experience is certainly one of my top nature experiences in Europe!  We were reminded that people eek out a living on this land when we came across a shepherd with his flock.  We found a Montague’s Harrier quartering the area, a Black Stork up close and then we moved across the putzsa for another target bird, Aquatic Warbler and we were not to be disappointed.  We walked across the putzsa and found three birds up close on the tops of the grasses and also in display flight.  We closed the evening with a Great Bustard in flight and great views of three Saker Falcons on the ground and then taking off over the head of a bemused Common Buzzard, and I caught sight of a Hare.  The guide had been very good and I have his details in the event of my returning for the Crane migration during autumn.  He was happy to stay with us until darkness, but sadly we had a drive back for dinner.  It was difficult to pull ourselves away from this fascinating area.  Dinner was good as always and my disappointment about the fish ponds long forgotten.Day SixToday was another guided day by Rob, in the main for butterflies.  This time we took a longer drive to Aggtelek National Park (90 minutes), an area of wooded hills, karst limestone and meadows.  It was a wonderfully relaxing day and we benefited greatly from Robs knowledge of the area and butterflies in particular.  I won’t list the butterflies of the day, but three do stay firmly in mind and they are Woodland Brown, Common Glider and Black Veined White.  The later seen at length in courtship display, in fact it seemed to go much further than courtship!  The wild flowers were wonderful and I must widen my knowledge of insects in general.  There were quite a few Hornets around today.  I don’t much care for wasps so I steered clear.This was perhaps the quietest day for birds although what we did see included Black Stork and our first Marsh Tit and Willow Warbler (H) of the trip.  We caught fleeting sight of Pine Martin, Roe Deer and a very dark haired Squirrel.  The compact Canon was out quite a lot today.Day SevenThis was to be our last full day and low and behold it began with rain!  By shortly after 10.00 we were parked up in the Hortobagy at the spot that the guide had recommended, watching Glossy Ibis, Pygmy Cormorants and Spoonbills, Grey Heron, Purple Heron and Marsh Harriers fly over.  It was good at one point to see Pygmy and Great Cormorant fly closely together giving a true perspective of size.  The rain stopped by around 10.30 and it was time for a walk.  I won’t list all the birds again we saw today, but we did add Whitethroat and Wren to our week’s list.  Three Foxes today too.After stopping off for a short time to look over the reed beds and pool we continued to the area with the Red Footed Falcon, Bee-Eater and Sand Martin colonies and having watched for a short time from the hide and found Little Bittern and Penduline Tit we began a walk into the Putzsa.  The muddy path, yes again that stuff that sticks like rubber flippers to the feet, skirted the reed bed out onto the open putzsa.  One really good sight was of large flocks of Greylag Geese flying in the distance whilst we listened to Reed Warblers, Great Reed Warblers, Sedge Warblers and Savi’s Warblers singing in the reeds.  I also caught sight of a Bluethroat again, but nothing to match the sight of the one we had seen earlier in the week.  Some we spoke to, seemed quite blasé about Bluethroats, but not me.  They may not be that rare in the area, but that makes them no less beautiful birds in my eyes.  The bales of hay in the distance were acting as resting places for large numbers of Great White Egrets, Grey Herons, Purple Herons and Common Buzzard as a Fox wandered around the area.  To the right of us in the near distance were a large herd of Hungarian Long Horned cattle.  We had another great sighting of Cuckoo.Well, the rain kept off and the cloud had broken up to allow some sunshine through.  To be honest I was hoping not too much sunshine as I had forgotten to bring my hat!  Our next and last stop of the day was at the Tisza Resevoir where we found a wonderfully small, in comparison to what we had been seeing, area of reeds and meadow.  We soon found 2 Spotted Flycatchers for our list.  I had a very fleeting glimpse of something swimming across the narrow canal and I am now wondering if it may have been a Beaver.  It was one of those fleeting things that didn’t have time to register at the time.  I can’t be sure so I won’t be listing it.  The same with what I am thinking may have been a Black Tern which flew behind trees on the edge of the reservoir.  No damn it, it was a Black Tern and I shall put it on the list.  What were unmistakeable were more sightings of Golden Orioles and I was wondering why these had proven so illusive at the start of the trip!  We left the area as Marsh Harriers flew over the adjoining fields and Swallows and House Martins hunted for insects.  A Syrian Woodpecker was flying around the woodland.  It had been a relaxing end to another really good day.  We returned to a wonderful sunny evening, but we were told that it had rained until after 3.00pm at Farm Lator.  We had made the right decision to travel to the Hortobagy.  I enjoyed my beer in the sun before dinner and a walk afterwards.Day EightToday was our day to return, but we had timed things so as to have an evening flight from Budapest so we had all morning to spend in the Bukk National Park.  We made the most of it by returning to try and fine the Lesser Purple Emperors, with which we were successful and we also added Map Butterfly to the list.  We spent the morning in meadows and woods and had lunch in the sun before the drive back to Budapest.  On the drive we stopped at the same field of Lucerne and Poppies that we had stopped at on the outward journey.  In one week it was very noticeable just how far the Poppies had gone back.  We found Queen of Spain Fritillary, Marbled White and more Eastern Pale Clouded Yellow Butterflies before driving to the airport.  Before checking in we celebrated with a couple of Grahams emergency supplies of biscuits.  I am damn sure he had been up during some nights making them!  The flight was on time and we flew over the city of Budapest and followed the Danube for some way as we carried our memories of Hungary home with us.Thanks are given to those who replied to my thread some weeks ago asking for advice about this trip.  Without that advice I would not have known about Farm Lator.  Thanks also to Rob de Jong and wife Barbara at Farm Lator for ensuring that our stay in Hungary was a good and fruitful one and I hope my report reflects that.  It was a wise choice to stay there.Bird List and Butterfly list to follow.  The latter, courtesy of Graham.Butterflies shots are Common Glider and Marbled White.</blockquote>

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