July 2019 - part 2
16th July 2019 - (Tuesday, Kedd)
A late morning visit on yet another hot and sunny day. Despite the recent rescue efforts (primarily by Teréz and Robika) the distinctive smell of death and decay greeted me as I neared the reedbed area. As expected, I found a mass of dead and drying tadpoles at our rescue site, with several Greenbottle flies busily depositing eggs on the corpses. This should not undermine Teréz's efforts though, as she rescued several hundred amphibian young in recent days. With no sign of substantial rain, the SQ is reverting to a 'land' site instead of an aquatic site. The baby Green Tree Frogs are moving ever closer to the main reed and reedmace areas. There are still plenty of damselflies, mating and looking to deposit their eggs, but today, the only open water was in Rock Bath 1 ... and there's not much water there, either. For the time being, the site is attractive to butterflies and other insects, but will become less so as the drought takes its toll on the flowering plants. Elsewhere in the Mátra, water is cascading down the hillsides and forming vibrant streams. The Small Quarry is just in the wrong place, sadly. Butterflies recorded: Silver-studded Blue, Reverdin's Blue, Eastern Pale Clouded Yellow, Dryad (at least 10), Marbled White, Silver-washed Fritillary, Lesser Spotted Fritillary, Queen of Spain Fritillary, Dingy Skipper, and Large Copper (male) = 10 species. It was also a day for the strange little green bugs: the Pointed Froghopper, and the Buffalo Treehopper (the latter not photographed). A Blue-eyed Hawker dragonfly was hunting beside the reedbed, but no images were obtained as it was too fast !
17th July 2019 - (Wednesday, Szerda)
19th July 2019 - (Friday, Péntek)
25th July 2019 - (Thursday, Csütörtök)
26th July 2019 - (Friday, Péntek )
Another very hot day, which meant that I only paid a one-hour visit. The vast majority of the blue butterflies seen were Silver-studded - there must have been at least 50 on-site. Other species noted were: Common Blue, Chalkhill Blue, Grizzled Skipper, Small White, Green-veined White, Wood White, and many Dryad = 8 species. A Red-backed Shrike was investigating bushes and trees in The Bowl area. Despite the recent rain, all areas of the SQ were dry.