February 2019
12th February 2019 - (Tuesday, Kedd )
A quick visit as I had just recovered from flu and there was a very cold, strong wind at the site, despite the sunshine and blue sky. Some water was found in various parts of the site following the recent covering of snow, but not enough for amphibian breeding, I fear.
21st February 2019 - (Thursday, Csütörtök)
No wildife seen, but a Green Woodpecker was heard calling in the distance. The only water inside The Bowl is mainly in the reedbed area. Rock Bath 1 has quite a lot, albeit 50% covered with ice. A small amount of water was in RB2. At the end of my visit, I walked along the airfield road collecting litter. I left the site with a full carrier bag of rubbish.
28th February 2019 - (Thursday, Csütörtök)
A short visit to check the site. The water in Rock Bath 1 is now ice-free, and there's still a reasonable amount of water throughout the reedbed. However, today we had a clear blue sky, as can be seen in the images, and the temperature was up around 9 degs. This was the last day of February, remember ! There seems to be decreased rainfall in Hungary, certainly in our Mátra region, and maybe the global warming menace is really beginning to take effect. I am coming to the belief that it is now hopeless to think of the SQ as a breeding site for amphibians, due to having so little water, and that little water being available for such a short time. I am still very suspicious of the activities of our German nemesis, although I can find no evidence that he's jeopardised our irrigation project in any way. His last involvement was when we had our 'irrigation war' about 2 years ago. Several years ago, when Teréz and I dug the irrigation channel, we had regular, heavy rainfall, and The Bowl remained reasonably full for many weeks. This enabled the young amphibians to complete their cycle, and also for other life, such as dragonflies, to also breed successfully. Grass Snakes also enjoyed the site, dining on the endless supply of tadpoles. Nowadays, I feel that attracting water creatures to the site is a waste of their energy and potential, as they might be better finding other breeding sites .... if such alternative sites exist !