August 2023
2nd August 2023 - (Wednesday, Szerda)
The heat is back on, and the rain has disappeared. This means that the aquatic creatures in The bowl are now fighting for their lives. We've already seen fully-developed young Green Tree Frogs this year, so they are making their way out and into the big, bad world. But, many tadpoles of the Common Spadefoot Toad are still battling for life in the ever decreasing water. The ones seen today have back legs, but they're not ready to leave the water yet. Only substantial rainfall will save them now. I saw a young Grass Snake today, and this will be hunting in the shallow water until all food has gone. I saw lots of damsels today, which surprised me. Most of them seemed to be one of the Blue-tailed species, and there were also many mating pairs. There's optimism for you ! Butterflies seen were: Several False Grayling, Silver-studded Blue, Common Blue, a female Short-tailed Blue, Wall Brown, Small Heath, Small White, Eastern Pale Clouded Yellow, Chalkhill Blue (males), Dryad, and Sooty Copper (male). Two Green Lizards hurtled away from me in the undergrowth, giving me no chance for photographs.
7th August 2023 - (Monday, Hétfő)
On my afternoon visit, I parked outside the main gate and walked up the airfield road. Why? I wanted to see if the extreme weather Hungary experienced over the weekend had helped our 'amphibian cause'. There were gale-force winds over much of the country, and severe thunder storms brought very heavy downpours of rain. But as I walked up the road, I became very sad as the airfield road was bone-dry, and our top irrigation channel was moist, but not 'swimming' in water. However, when I entered the top gate, the soil was quite wet, and when I reached a viewing point I saw that The Bowl was full of water ... again ! So, our channel looks to have worked well, and maybe just this morning's sun and the strong wind caused the road to dry quickly. All being well, our young amphibians may now have enough time to develop fully and leave the water. I heard a few Fire-bellied Toads piping in their new 'paradise'. Walking round to the reedbed area, I saw a small snake near the Chequered Blue area. Sadly, it saw me before I saw it and it quickly retreated into vegetation, meaning that I only saw it's last few inches. There was a strong cold wind blowing across the site - a complete contrast to the past few sweltering days - and I hadn't even thought of seeing reptiles ! Species? Well, it could have been a young Grass Snake, although it may also have been a young Smooth Snake ..... no chance of photo evidence, sadly. A few butterflies were clutching grass stems (Common Blue, Silver-studded Blue), and singles were seen of Great Banded Grayling, Dryad, and False Grayling. A male Ruddy Darter was disturbed from a Dogwood bush.
8th August 2023 - (Tuesday, Kedd)
30th August 2023 - (Wednesday, Szerda)
My first visit since the holiday and, given the record temperatures recently, I expected the SQ to be 'bone dry'. Imagine my surprise when I found that there was substantial water in The Bowl, and the Coffee Pool looked very good. The latter was alive with damselflies, water beetles, and pond skaters. It even had Water Plantain in flower ! Butterflies were very lively and difficult to photograph, but I observed: Common Blue (several males), Small Heath (several), Great Banded Grayling, False Grayling, Eastern Pale Clouded Yellow, and a few unidentified Fritillaries. The water in the Coffee Pool was beautifully clear.