February 2016
1st February 2016 - (Monday, Hétfő)
Teréz took these record shots on her solo visit.
2nd February 2016 - (Tuesday, Kedd)
Although we worked hard on the channel 2 days ago, we were only too aware that it still looked a real mess. Lots of red brick rubble was visible, and we didn't want people to think that we had made such a mess there. So, a decision was made to go there this morning to remove as much brick rubble, plaster, cement, plastic, and any other rubbish, as possible. The job took about 3 hours, but by the end, the situation looked much better. I just wish people would stop making a mess in the countryside. This is the only planet we've got, folks ! After the work, I made a conscious effort to photograph the Fieldfares. I was able to get 'fairly' close to them, and with a bit of cropping, the pictures are not too bad as record shots. At the end, after collecting beer cans from the site (!), I found a new species of Fungus: Witches' Butter - Tremella mesenterica - Aranyos rezgőgomba. Every cloud has a silver lining, it seems !
Teréz's photos from the same day (2nd Feb 2016):
4th February 2016 - (Thursday, Csütörtök)
Yesterday, and today, Teréz liaised with the Council's 'clean-up men', and they will come to collect the 'rubbish pile' that has accumulated at the SQ. To make things easier for them, we moved the mass of rubbish to the top entrance gate of the site. The weather was dry and sunny today, but with a rather strong and cold wind. Some of the ice sheet in The Bowl has melted, and we had some sizeable patches of open water around the edges. No sign of amphibians yet, but we expect some activity soon.
Teréz's photos from her first visit of the day:
5th February 2016 - (Friday, Péntek)
Teréz paid visit to the SQ with Robika, and he proved what a fine young naturalist he is by discovering 2 NEW SPECIES for the site ! One was a new Orb Web Spider, and the other was a colourful member of the Tortoise Beetle family !
6th February 2016 - (Saturday, Szombat)
A late afternoon visit by Teréz, during which she had a reconnaissance walk down the hill to check the status of 'the man with the water garden'. He has clearly installed a pipe to take rainwater from the ditch outside his property, and, rumour has it, he has installed a large water tank (or similar) underground ! Therefore, HE certainly has a reason for blocking our channel so that he gets most of the rainwater run-off.
10th February 2016 - (Wednesday, Szerda)
As I drove up the hill towards the Small Quarry (SQ), I met great sheets of water streaming down the road towards me. I wondered if our 'friend' had closed our channel again, but was happy to see, upon arrival, that the channel was how we'd left it, albeit, slightly overwhelmed in a few places with the great torrent of water. It's always wonderful to see a mass of 'white water' surging into the site, accompanied by a roar as the water drops down the waterfall. You can hear the sound on the accompanying videos.
11th February 2016 - (Thursday, Csütörtök)
A short, lunchtime visit to check the water level after the 'surge' of yesterday ! The Bowl is now very full, with Rock Bath 1 having breached its banks, and the other two Rock Baths also have much water in them. The Bowl water is creeping towards RB2, and may soon link up with it, as water is still coming into the site via the waterfall and channel. Despite the sunny spells, the wind felt particularly icy, especially when walking around the top rim of the site.
15th February 2016 - (Monday - Hétfő)
Another 'interesting' day in central Hungary ! This morning, Teréz visited the SQ to check whether our channel was still in place, as we'd had lots of rain during the last two days. But, the channel had been blocked again, and as Teréz was working with her bare hands and boots to re-configure the channel, she saw a man walking up the hill towards her (in the rain !). She took the opportunity to take a series of photos of her work site, 'accidentally' including HIM in her frames ! He told her that this was a bad thing to do as, when lots of water runs down the road, he cannot get his car out of the garden because the road is covered with ice. This seems bizarre as our channel takes water OFF the road. Without the channel, ALL of the rainwater run-off would go down the road ! I don't understand, nem ertem ! As Teréz tried to explain why we do these things, and how important the SQ is for wildlife, the man turned his back on her and walked off down the hill. When Teréz returned to her car, it wouldn't start, but she obtained some assistance from a young lad from the village. They had difficulty in opening the bonnet as some small branches were wedged under it. Eventually it was opened, but when the lad 'turned' the engine, there was some smoke and some strange sounds. In the end, the 'knight of the road' kindly towed Teréz's car home ! I visited to check the situation this afternoon. T's work had been good, and I only had to use the pick to clear and restructure parts of the channel. Ironically, we are getting to the stage where we have enough water inside, at the moment, but, of course, once the rain stops for a few days..... we start watching the level drop again. Hard to get the perfect situation.
Here are Teréz's photos from her morning visit:
Here are my photos from my afternoon visit:
17th February 2016 - (Wednesday - Szerda)
As I drove up the airfield road this morning, I could see quite a lot of water running down towards me, even though we'd had no rainfall since yesterday. When I reached the 'channel area', it was obvious that our channel had been 'rearranged' again ... and this time, even more damage was done. All water was running down the hill, and NO water was entering the SQ. As you will see from today's photos, for the time being, we have enough water inside the site, so I decided that, whoever has been doing this, has won the battle for now ... but hopefully, not the war ! We'll leave the channel in this blocked configuration for now, and make make relevant changes, when the water level drops, in a few days, or weeks. Whoever is doing this has far more time on his hands than we do. We're supposed to be studying the site, not wasting hours doing this sort of work. We DO know, however, that the man Teréz spoke to the other day is NOT the 'channel wrecker', but he's unhappy about water coming up through the rough track outside the main gates, which (he said) causes driving problems. As T told him, if no water goes into the SQ, even MORE water thunders down the road ... but he cannot seem to comprehend this fact ! For the statisticians out there: our channel had been blocked in 5 places, and 6 'rebel' side channels have been cut from it ! I wish whoever is doing it would take up some other hobby: such as stamp collecting, or woodwork !
22nd February 2016 - (Monday - Hétfő)
An early afternoon visit on a sunny and unusually warm day : 18 deg ! The visit was mainly to check if there was any amphibian activity ... and there WAS ! 5 or 6 clumps of spawn (tojás) were found in The Bowl, probably of the Agile Frog (Erdei béka), which is usually the first species to spawn. Then, in Rock Bath 1, the first Fire-bellied Toad of the year was found, enjoying the warmth of the shallow water at the edge. Having seen one butterfly this morning in Gyöngyös town, I expected to see one or two in the SQ ... but none were apparent. Despite the dry weather, water continued to run down the airfield road, but almost all of it ran past the SQ as the channel remained blocked. For the time being, there is enough water inside, but this situation will not last for long ..... so a 'covert operation' will be staged ! Also seen, but not photographed were: a Whirligig Beetle - Gyrinus natator - Közönséges keringőbogár and several small Diving Beetles.
Here are Teréz's photos from the same day:
24th February 2016 - (Wednesday, Szerda)
Another day .... another problem ! Today we discovered that a sizeable load of building rubbish had been tipped from vehicle since the previous visit. It was on the opposite side of the road from the Small Quarry, but again, if others see it, they will ALSO think this is a good place to dump their rubbish. It will be a big job to clear this mess, and I lacked the energy (and the waste bags) today. In addition, water continued to run down the hill ... with most of it by-passing our channel, which remains blocked. Today I purchased a nice new spade, and I will re-configure the channel soon. On the more important, nature side of things, a few more spawn clumps were observed in The Bowl. but none have appeared in Rock Bath 1, so far. No amphibians were seen today, nor any butterflies, perhaps because the temperature was 8 degs, instead of the 18 degs on our previous visit. Teréz DID, however, find a new plant species for the site: Snowdrop - Galanthus nivalis - Kikeleti hóvirág. On a later visit, Teréz and Robika heard clucking sounds coming from under the water surface ... these would almost certainly be from male Common Spadefoot Toads - Pelobates fuscus - Barna ásóbéka.
Here are Teréz's photos for the same day: