May 2017 - part 1
1st May 2017 - (Monday, Hétfő)
A short visit with Lajos Nyilas to see what was happening at the SQ. Unfortunately, the weather was cloudy and quite cool, meaning that no lizards were out. Not really a butterfly day either, although we saw a few Grizzled Skippers and a male Lesser Fiery Copper. Lajos also photographed the first Bloodvein moth of the year (his photo will be added later).
3rd May 2017 - (Wednesday, Szerda)
A visit to check whether water had gone into the SQ during the rain of last night. Answer: no. Our channel was still 'in our favour', but not enough water had come down the hill to run through it. This is probably because most of the rainfall had soaked into the dry ground above the SQ. I saw a few Wood White, an Orange Tip male, and a male Brimstone, but the only butterfly to settle for photos was a Grizzled Skipper. An unusual find was a sort of 'hybrid' Purple Mullein. We have one plant each year that produces only white flowers, but this one, growing on the rim edge, was a mixture of white and purple. The flowers looked very exotic! Birds noted were: Cuckoo, Nightingale, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Starlings, and Blackbird. Note: After 1800, some massive storms passed over the local area, dropping torrential rain and hailstones 1 - 2 cms in diameter. We are hoping that 'Achim the Terrible' is a long way away so that a reasonable amount of water will have surged down the waterfall, without his interference..
4th May 2017 - (Thursday, Csütörtök)
After last night's monsoon conditions, including hailstones of 1 to 2 cms in diameter, I paid a fairly early visit to the SQ to see what the results were. I was greeted by water running down the road, and lots of debris on the road. Upon inspection, I saw that 'Achim the Terrible' had been in action, blocking our channel again, but he seems to have been too late as 2/3rds of The Bowl had water. There were even Fire-bellied Toads piping in the 'new' water! Inspection of the 3 rock baths showed that RB1 is full, right up to the front rim, RB2 is 3/4 full, and there's even some water in RB3, although the latter is not important. There was a certain stillness about the place, with only a single Common Heath moth on the wing. Mist covered all mountains, and little of the surrounding landscape could be seen. A White Wagtail was enjoying the new water, a Whitethroat was singing from atop a Dog Rose bush, and a Common Buzzard passed overhead. As I write these notes, the sun is trying to break through. Maybe another expedition is required to check which insect species are trying to escape the flood waters. So, we have won this battle, but no doubt there will be many more battles to come. I left the channel blocked, in Achim's favour, as we have enough water for now.
4th May 2017 - (Thursday, Csütörtök) - Part 2
Teréz and I decided to re-visit the SQ this afternoon as the Sun had broken through and we wondered what might be there. We were glad that we did as we were greeted, not only by the sounds of Fire-bellied Toads in The Bowl, but also the high-pitched call of a male Green Toad. From memory, I think this is the first visit by this species for 4 years, as we'd had no water, at breeding time, at the site until now. We also heard the underwater clucking sounds of Common Spadefoot Toads, and at least 3 male Smooth Newts were seen. The Sun had also brought out the butterflies, with the following being seen or photographed: Sooty Copper (female), Swallowtail (egg-laying female), Short-tailed Blue (male), Wall Brown, Peacock, Eastern Pale Clouded Yellow, and a Weaver's Fritillary. With water back in The Bowl, the place seemed 'alive' again.
5th May 2017 - (Friday, Péntek)
My morning visit was very good, for several reasons. Not only was I able to photograph a male and female Spadefoot Toad in amplexus, but I also found the string of eggs they'd left behind. This was the first time that Teréz or myself had found the actual eggs at the SQ. We'll 'keep an eye on them', as they may need rescuing if we lose the water from the main Bowl area. The first 4 photos in this stream are not too nice: the first two show a considerable load of dumped garden mowings and cuttings .... the second two show the mass of road material that has been washed out of our irrigation channel, thanks to someone's meddling! Maybe I'll leave the garden rubbish to rot down, but I think I need to collect and remove the road debris as it'is covering the plants in this area. Butterflies seen were: Short-tailed Blue (female), Orange Tip (female), Queen of Spain Fritillary, Eastern Pale Clouded Yellow, Grizzled Skipper, Glanville Fritillary, Scarce Swallowtail, and Wood White. The Nightingale was singing.
6th May 2017 - (Saturday, Szombat)
Teréz, Robika, and I visited the SQ on a mainly sunny morning. I walked up the airfield road, noting that quite a lot of water was still running down, even though the rain had stopped many hours earlier. I decided to re-open our channel, using only my wellies, and to block 'his' two cuttings, but not too securely. This meant that, although 2/3 of the flow was going into the site, the other third was flowing down the road, giving the impression that our channel was still blocked ! A cunning plan, indeed. In seconds, the waterfall burst into life ! When we left the site, I left our channel working, as we need to keep our new amphibian area nicely topped-up. Today, we found 2 Green Toad males in the water. Everywhere, Fire-bellied Toads were piping, and Common Spadefoot Toads were clucking underwater, but we didn't see them today. At the nicely full Rock Bath 1, many tadpoles of the Agile Frog were grazing on the plants and algae. The usual, small Pond Skaters were joined by the larger species. Butterfly species phtographed: Green-veined White, Grizzled Skipper, Hungarian Skipper, Lesser Fiery Copper, and a Swallowtail that was investigating the Hog's Fennel plants 'up top', one of the foodplants of its caterpillars. The most bazarre find was, what appears to be, a cat's tail, or from some similar species. That must have been some fight !
8th May 2017 - (Monday, Hétfő)
This afternoon I arrived to find that rainwater was still flowing down the airfield road. Most of it was flowing into our channel (which had remained unaltered), whilst the rest was flowing down the road … and acting as a decoy! The indicator rock in The Bowl was now below the water surface, and the wet area had expanded in size. The piping calls of male Fire-bellied Toads filled the air, and at least one Green Toad was also heard calling. Despite the overcast conditions, a few butterflies made an appearance: Brown Argus (fresh), Grizzled Skipper (fresh), Dingy Skipper, and Wood White. Moths seen were: Common Pink-barred, Burnet Companion, Latticed Heath, and Speckled Yellow. A female Mallard flew up from the reedbed, a White Wagtail was enjoying a bath, and a Green Woodpecker (a new species for the SQ) investigated one of the redundant electricity poles. Two gall species were seen, one of them (a stem gall on Dalmatian Toadflax) is thought to be new. As I departed from the site, the rain started again.
10th May 2017 - (Wednesday, Szerda)
An afternoon visit to study, check that all was well, to remove road debris from the wild flower area, and use the material to repair the deep trench that had formed beside the road. All of this was accomplished. The Fire-bellied Toads and Common Spadefoot Toads were calling from their newly-expanded water body, although I didn't hear any Green Toads today. Birds heard were: Nightingale, Cuckoo, Blackbird, and the Whitethroat was again seen in the 'bushy corner' near to the houses. Maybe it is nesting in that area. Butterflies photographed were: Sooty Copper (male), Eastern Pale Clouded Yellow, and a Glanville Fritillary.