Butterflies in Hungary

[tracey777]

Hi,

I'm new to the forum but really I would just like to know if anyone has ever been to Hungary to spot butterflies? If so what was it like?

Thanks T

[Chris]

Not personally, Tracey, but read Pete Eeles' Farm Lator report here:

http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/reports_farmlator.php

Regards, Chris

[Pete Eeles]

Hi Tracey - and welcome!

Yes - the trip to Hungary was spectacular, but I imagine it depends where you go. I stayed at Farm Lator, which is in the north east of the country, in the Bukk Hills. It's fairly remote, but that does have its advantages

Cheers,

- Pete

[Padfield]

I took some school students on a Round Square conservation project to Boronka in July 1994. We spent most of the time converting a series of parallel artificial fish ponds into a meandering river (some serious labour there...) but I got a little butterflying in too. The unspoilt area between Boronka and the Drava is (or at least, was) truly wonderful, not just for butterflies but for being at one with nature. Pete saw more than me but I did get Fenton's wood white (no photo), which I think he dipped out on. Other notable memories are of the abundant common gliders, large chequered skippers bouncing along all the woodland rides, second brood Dukes of Burgundy, lesser purple emperors, the large fritillaries and ... Let's just say it's a great country wherever western-style commercial land use hasn't yet replaced the communist poverty (I'm no communist, but the fall of communism in some of these eastern countries paved the way for widescale destruction of countryside)!

Guy

[tracey777]

Thanks very much for the info guys.

I moved our here recently to organise walking tours in the Bukk (North East) and am also thinking about branching out into nature tours, ie birds and butterflies (with the help of a local guide / friend) but I wasn't sure if Hungary is known as a place to go to do this sort of thing.

Do many people take holidays purely for buttefly watching? Sorry if I am being naive. Its just I'm just getting into the butterflies myself with last year being my first year, I saw a lot whist doing my tours and I throughly enjoyed it.

Thanks again for the info.
T

[Pete Eeles]

Hi Tracey - it's all round to your place in the summer then

Yes - Hungary is a known destination for quite a few natural history tours. You only need to pick up BBC Wildlife Magazine to see this!

I strongly suggest you connect with Rob de Jong at Farm Lator, since Rob has been doing similar things for many years, and is a very knowledgeable and wonderful guide. He also has excellent connections with Hungary Butterfly Conservation (and, specifically, his friend known as "Safi" since his real name is unpronounceable!). Rob and Safi also have connections with various other initiatives, such as the "MacMan" project (surveying Maculinea species) that is supported by the West Midlands BC branch and others, and there are other private initiatives too to preserve sites in Hungary that I'm involved in (on the fringes) that will be made public in due course. Rob also knows other guides in the area that lead tours for some of the larger operators, such as Ecotours.

in summary, I'd urge you to contact Rob to discuss how you may take things forward, since Rob does an awful lot for conservation in the area and can point you in the right direction.

Hope this helps!

Cheers,

- Pete

[alex mclennan]

Hi Tracey
I thoroughly recommend Hungary for butterfly holidays. I spent ten days in the north east of the country in the Aggtelek National Park and the Bukk Hills covering much of the same ground as Pete did. We had 84 species including 14 different frits and 15 blues (trip report on the Naturetrek website).

Guy,
This is a pic of Fenton's Wood White! That was the object of everyone's attention here. Honest!!! With the beautiful Hungarian countryside as a backdrop.
Alex

[Padfield]

What magnificent wooded countyside!

My FWW never stopped, but just flitted about like an old lady looking for her glasses until I had to rejoin the group. But in a way, the absence of a photograph makes the memory that much more intense.

Guy

[tracey777]

Hello again,

Well let me say that Hungary is beautiful. Iam here right now and spring is definately here! Today I saw several orange tips, some small white (I think as I couldn't get close) and also 1 Pearl Bordered Fritillary. I'm still quite new at this so I maybe wrong but I am pretty sure thats what they were.

Thanks for all the info, you can also read more at walkinhungary.com

I will keep my eyes open and post when I see more as I will be here for a few more weeks yet (I know lucky me).

Happy spotting.

T

[Martin]

There doesn't seem to be much attention being payed to the wellbeing of flora in the above photo...

Martin.

[Padfield]

There doesn't seem to be much attention being payed to the wellbeing of flora in the above photo...

This is why I have never favoured freely publishing sites on the internet. These men all love butterflies and are doing no harm, assuming this is a one-off visit to the site. But if lots of people came here and did the same thing there would be a problem - I have often seen the effects of it. I lay down briefly on an open hillside just today to get a shot of the underside of rosy grizzled skipper. I was at the same site yesterday and saw no one at all in 2 hours, and today I only saw Matt Rowlings, with whom I visited the site. But we will never release this site, because lots of people doing the same thing over the duration of the flight period would have a devastating effect (not to mention its effect on other organisms).

It's all about numbers, and some sites just cannot tolerate large numbers.

Guy

Here's the shot I got, Martin - they're probably common in Spain but they're not common here!

[Martin]

they're probably common in Spain but they're not common here!

I've certainly never seen one!

I talked to Matt a couple of days ago (e-mails) and he mentioned he was meeting up with ...I hope you had a friutful time Unfortunately he's in my part of Spain a week before I'm going out, still, he's got a map to "my spots" so hopefully he'll see a few.
Martin.

[Padfield]

Yes, we talked about his Spain trip and he mentioned some very interesting 'spots'. Now I know who he was talking about! We were very lucky that the fine weather fell for the weekend - it has been pouring today!

Guy

[Sylvie_h]

Hi,

I went to Slovakia in June and spent 2 days in the South of the country close to the Hungarian border. It was perfect habitat for spotting the famous glider but did not see any.
I was indeed very suprised not to see them. Has anybody recently been in Hungary and seen them? Somebody told me that these butterflies were in decline. Slovakia is very unspoilt in terms of agricultural/urban development and I would really be surprised if this was true and I believe that Hungary is the same. Has anybody got any information on these butterflies (conservation, threatened species)?
The butterfly I did not expect to see there was the woodland brown, there seemed to be quite a lot in this area. Their underside is absolutely magnificent.
For general information, Slovakia has very much the same butterflies species as I normally see in the Alps, it is also true in terms of flora. I saw the same orchids there as I normally see in Haute Savoie. I never seen so many purple shot coppers though (they were everywhere). I need also to identify some fritillaries, I could not distinguish whether they were mountains/heat / false heath ... and they were all resting with their wings flat open and could not really see the underside!! I think I will probably need Guy's help for identification...
Sylvie