August 2021
13th August 2021 (Friday, Péntek)
My first visit to the SQ in August 2021. The place is still very dry, but some flowering plants are trying hard ! Not too many butterfly species, but those I observed were: Dryad (about 8, including one pair in courtship flight), Meadow Brown, and False Grayling (about 30 seen !), and a few well worn Silver-studded Blue. Three or four Common Darter dragonflies were seen, and several orthopteran species, including the Blue-winged Grasshopper and the Italian Locust. Two other grasshopper species photographed are still to be identified. My visit to the Pipis-hegy airfield gave more butterfly species than the SQ: Silver-spotted Skipper (at least 6), Silver-washed Fritillary, Chestnut Heath, Scarce Swallowtail, Common Blue (male), Chalkhill Blue (male), plus 2 or three Clouded Yellows (maybe not all the same species. One was a very deep yellow, and only stayed on a Viper's Bugloss flower for a few seconds before moving onto the next one. Maybe it saw the Misumena vatia Crab Spider lurking !
26th August 2021 - (Thursday, Csütörtök)
Apart from the usual sort of check, my other mission was to search for the largest Bush-cricket species, the Saga pedo. One had been found, photographed, and videoed by a naturalist friend recently in the grassland near to St. Anna Lake. Despite five search missions in that same area, I found nothing, partly due to the windy conditions during my visits. I inspected all of the Field Eryngo flower heads inside the SQ, plus all of those in the adjacent 'military area', but again, I was out of luck. Back at the SQ, the butterflies recorded were: Wood White, Small White, Great Banded Grayling, False Grayling, Dryad, Common Blue (male), a few Silver-studded Blue, and Small Heath = 8 species. Several different species were in flower, although not in vast numbers due to the drought conditions.