Ambios Ltd. (UK) and the BOF (Hungary) were recently successful with an application to the EU Leonardo Mobility Programme to host three volunteers (Jennifer Sherwen, Elly Weir, Matthew Butler and Owain Hegarty) and Mike Cooke as an accompanying person from the UK for six weeks in Hungary. The main objectives of this international co-operation is to support participants in training and further training activities, in the acquisition and the use of knowledge, skills and qualifications to facilitate personal development, employability and participation in the European Labour Market.BOF/Ambios 6 Week Leonardo Mobility Voluntary Experience.
Diary by Jennifer Sherwen, Elly Weir, Matthew Butler and Owain Hegarty
Jenny begins the story…
Day 1 Monday 22nd June: We arrived in Budapest just after 2pm after a slightly delayed flight from London Luton. Everyone was a little bleary eyed from the early start. Mike met us at arrivals and took us back to the Homemade Hostel in Pest to the east of the Danube. This was a very cosy bohemian-style hostel decorated with old suitcases as shelves. We then found a nice little bar not far from the hostel and tried Dreher Bock, a very rich Hungarian dark beer. We met up with the guys from the last cohort, all gone native and grown Hungarian long beards – they gave us a few tips and ideas of what to expect when we reached Orosztony. We then said goodbyes as they headed back to the airport. Owain, Matt, Elly & I then tried to explore the city, however due to heavy rainfall we ended up paddling about in the rain! We did find a very nice Spanish-Hungarian restaurant for our first meal. We then headed back to the original bar for more drinks, we were all knackered so got an early night. Matt however stayed out a little later and we heard the floorboards creaking at 3am!
Day 2 Tuesday 23rd June: We had a little lie in the hostel and left at 9ish to Budapest station. At the station we met Zsófi, a Hungarian girl who would also be volunteering at the BOF with us. We set off on a 4 and a half hour train journey across Hungary to Nagykanizsa. We learnt a little more Hungarian on the train journey with help from Zsófi. We could see the extent of Lake Balaton, and many holiday homes that line the southern side. Ákos met us all at Nagykanizsa station and we joined a convoy of cars back to Orosztony – with both Owain & Elly quickly getting used to driving on the right hand side! We were all tired so went for a meal at a local restaurant, discussing what we would be up to over the next 6 weeks.
Day 3 Wednesday 24th June: We all went to Felsőrajk to tag the barn owl chicks. We had a go at radiotracking with both the Sika and Scanner, to test if the female was in the church nestbox. Elly & Owain went up the church tower with Ákos to bring the female and her two chicks down. I had the chance to hold the female who was very dosile and a few photos were taken of the happy family. Very similar to English Tescos… with the exception of a tank of carp by the fish counter, and everything in Hungarian! Elly & Matt went with Ákos to a Natura 2000 site to survey for Corncrakes by using a small comb-like instrument which mimics the male corncrake call. To our delight a couple of birds returned the call which confirmed they were present, but they remained hidden. In the evening we were invited to Ákos’s for a presentation on the BOF and a game of Jenga.
Day 4 Thursday 25th June: Owain & I had the opportunity to join Ákos to the White Stork roadshow in Nagykanizsa with the MME (Bird Life Hungary). They had the electricity turned off for the morning so we could go up to the nests in a cherry picker. Unfortunately due to recent hail the chicks had been exposed to many of the nests were empty, but we did get to see a few chicks being tagged. In the afternoon we went to the Natura 2000 Sandy grassland site, this was taken over by golden rod. There was a large abundance of wildlife.
We spotted a beautiful Purple Emperor butterfly, which is a rprotected species in Hungary. When we were in the field Ákos’s colleague dropped off 4 swallow chicks that had been found by the public. In the afternoon we took these back to a bird santuary at Fenékpuszta….. In the evening we had a go at radiotracking.
Day 5 Friday 26th June: We spent the morning working at Ákos’s on the aviary finishing off the doors & a floor in the Tawny’s new room. We were stopped in the afternoon by torrential rain, this did allow us time to rest before radiotracking. Later we went out radiotracking and found the female in the church. We split into two groups, on the haystacks we met a very curious fox cub, who tried to knick Owain’s bag! An unforgettable close encounter. We also saw a baby wild boar running away and a beech martin on the way home. A few drinks then off to bed…
Day 6 Saturday 27th June: Day off – a well deserved lie-in. Late morning we went for a walk to a local radio tower, it was good to look back to Orosztony and get more of an idea of our surroundings. By the radio tower were wild flowers with a sea of butterflies, including a few swallowtails! We stopped in Orosztony at the pub on the way back.. which led to a further few beers when others arrived. A very good evening.
Day 7 Sunday 28th June: Late morning we went to finish off the aviary. We cleared the inside, levelled the floor, added some perches and some grass seed – quite a transformation. We then fetched Böbe, (the long eared owl) and took him to his new home. We then went back to cook and enjoyed a shared attempt at dinner at Ákos’s with some delicious spinach sauce/soup.
Elly continues…
Day 8 Monday 29th June: We headed to Csörnyeberek to help Akos with installing a couple of signs informing people of the boundary of the specially protected area, where permission is required to enter this special habitat of marshy woodland. We all learnt the Hungarian mosquito dance which involved slapping ourselves and each other at regular intervals. Luckily mostly avoided the huge horseflies too. We then headed into the protected area to view the marshy area, spotting roe deer and baby grass snakes on the way. The habitat feels very ancient and lush, with alder trees standing in pools of dark water, mossy logs allowing some exploration amongst the huge sedges and marshy plants such as bog nettle, gypsywort and water violet. The rainy downpour added to the Jurassic rainforest feeling and with that we headed back to the car, with Matt getting extra muddy riding in the trailer. Our first full night of radiotracking starting that evening and after afternoon catnaps and lots of food we headed out to Felsőrajk to find the barn owls. Matt and I were the static team on the haystacks for most of the night where we were fairly constantly able to pick up both male and female intermittently, and kept company by the curious young fox that seems to live there. At one point it tried to eat our results but we managed to salvage them! Mike, Jenny and Owain were the mobile team to see if they could see where the birds kept disappearing to. Suspecting over the ridge to the east but no evidence yet. By the time dawn came up and we decided to leave, the female still had not returned to the church, although the male was back in his normal farm roost.
Day 9 Tuesday 30th June: A morning sleeping after all nighter, Zsófi also left today, she was a funny Hungarian addition to the house. Muggy, spooooky, tiny, cheesy are English words she left with. Owain, Mike and I went off to do a big shop, stopping at the church in Felsőrajk on the way to see if the female had returned after we had left in the morning. There was still no signal suggesting she has started to roost away from the chicks in the daytime, although we don’t know where yet! Matt and Jenny went to do some painting on the aviary, where a big thunderstorm left Böbe the long-eared owl very wet and even more grumpy looking than usual!! An evening of nice food (As usual!) and early night before our trip to Kiskunság tomorrow…
Day 10 Wednesday 1st July: An early start to drive to Kiskunság National Park to the south of Budapest, the central plains – big expanses of grassland grazed by traditional grey Hungarian cattle and home to many rare species. Our first few stops found a variety of interesting and aromatic plant species including wild thyme, wild hemp and spiked speedwell. We saw a European roller, a type of bee-eater with beautiful colouration, and then walked on to observe a colony of European bee-eaters nesting in a sand bank, flying in and out of their holes and gliding in the sky was an incredible sight! The evening was spent trying some local delicacies – ‘robber meat’ and ‘soldiers bits’ but no one was brave enough to try the ‘outlaws bundle’!
Day 11 Thursday 2nd July: Ákos left us to our own devices today and we attempted to find some salt lakes in the area in the morning. We drove up a track then walked for a few kilometres in the burning sun until we decided the lakes were probably not along there and we should get in some shade before suffering heat stroke! We did see marsh harriers, a hare and deer. Our next stop was more successful and we drove up the mud track and walked to the bird hide where we spotted Mediterranean gulls, red footed falcons (we think) and lots of curlew on the lake. The vegetation surrounding the lake was sparse and presumably mostly salt-loving species. As we left a thunder storm suddenly came in and the heaviest rain started falling…suddenly it was a priority to get out before the track turned too muddy – at that point one of the cars got a puncture and we had to quickly change it before slipping and sliding our way out! Phew! We stopped in an attractive town called Kapsovár on the way back for some dinner, fountains everywhere, some nice murals and also a very heavy thunderstorm which turned the streets to a river very quickly! Back home late!
Day 12 Friday 3rd July: Owain and me left first thing with Csaba and his bat friend Balázs to do some bat and barn owl surveys of churches quite close to the border with Slovenia and Croatia, like Lenti. In each village on the list, we had to find the key to the church – this was done by asking a random person in the village who generally knew who held the key. Sometimes the priest or person who had the key was not in, and one key holder didn’t want us to do the survey, but generally we managed to get the key sooner or later. Understandably, many churches had experienced burglaries so they had to make sure we were kosher.
The structure of the churches were mostly similar, but there were also some simple bell towers in many of the smaller villages. We found 2 barn owl chicks in one nest box, and some old bat droppings…then we went into a church and found a large maternity roost of greater mouse-eared bats (Myotis myotis) which was very exciting to me as in UK they are as good as extinct so I have never seen them. They were large, and the droppings quite big as well, a huge pile under the roost. I collected a skull from the floor for educational purposes. In one of the bell towers there was a roosting adult barn owl, and in another church a roost of serotine bats (Epsteticus serotinus) in the narrow bell tower. Csaba and Balázs were incredibly nimble and monkey-like in climbing up to the top of the towers with no ladders or ropes – I was happy to stay on the floor! Adam, Jasmine and Amber arrived today so we had a suitably jolly evening welcoming them to Orosztony with Jenny cooking veggie curry for a record 13 people!!!
Day 13 Saturday 4th July: Today we went to the Water Buffalo festival at a reserve near Balaton, as the Barn Owl Foundation had a little stall there, so we helped to set it up and hold Tony the Tawny Owl to engage people to learn about owls. The reserve was in a beautiful setting, with large herds of water buffalo which wallow in the muddy water holes for 4 – 5 hours a day to keep cool and keep parasites down. A traditional Mongolian yurt was erected which was made from authentic materials such as camel and goat hair and even the screws for the wood were leather! Lots of traditional wooden games and archery was set up, and there were some other stalls selling crafts, home made jams, cheese, herbal teas and sweets! Walks around the reserve led to seeing lots of bats in the numerous bat boxes on the trees, and gophers which live in short grassland grazed by the buffalo. Lunch was a delicious and tender water buffalo stew or sausage with potatoes and pickles.
Day 14 Sunday 5th July: Today we had a bit of a lie-in then went to put out another 15 dormouse tubes near Alsórajk. We then had a recky around Felsőrajk to check the female barn owl was still in the barn opposite the church, and to see if it was possible to track them behind the ridge if they do indeed go that way. A nap in the evening and we left to do some radiotracking in the evening. Unfortunately Mike fell twice and hurt himself so we left him at home and the four of us were let loose into Felsorak…
(Monday 6th July – 12th July to be completed by Matt)
Owain continues
13th July: Today we were very lucky to spend a day off in Keszthely, a tourist town on the coast of Lake Balaton. On arrival we scanned the high-street for a suitable spot for a light refreshment, hit some shops and saw the castle. We then headed on down to a beech area, where everyone had a relaxing time, apart from the occasional water slide! Adam, Amber and Jazmin said there goodbyes as they were spending the evening in Budapest before going back to England. The remaining cohort head to a nearby pier to watch the sun go down.
14th July: With radiotracking in the evening the plan was to have a relaxed day. However with soaring heat and difficulty in sleeping the cohort decided to crack on and tie up some unfinished jobs. Elly and Jenny head down to finish putting out the dormouse boxes. Matt carried on with the never-ending work at the Aviary. Mike and Owain made around journey off 5 hours to pick up an injured long eared owl. He (she) was in a shed in a womens house. They apparently had him for some months, perhaps thinking they could keep him as a pet but were keen for the Barn Owl Foundation to get rid of the grumpy and unfriendly owl. The cohort then set out at 8:00 to complete a full night of radiotracking. The team had a really successful night with several fixes from the word go. Efforts were concentrated on the male as he appeared to be hunting North of the village and then moved southwards about an hour later.
15th July – Owain’s birthday: The days activities began with a meeting with Ákos and a trip to the nearby village to complete a barn owl survey. The first site we visited was a town hall. As we entered the attic, it was a stifling 37′C and with no air moving whatsoever. With a helmet and facemask it was like a sauna with everyone dripping. There were 4 chicks in the external box, which the cohort each held while Ákos and Matt cleaned years of dirt away from the mucky owlets. Owain’s owl was particularly feisty and had more than one nibble. The second church we visited had 3 chicks, again all were healthy and looked about ready to fledge.
We set out to complete a full night of radiotracking at 8:00. The tracker, unusually had a lot of interference perhaps caused by combine harvesters or a nearby thunder storm that was visible from all around. We got a fix for the male at the beginning of the night north of his roost, however were not able to pick either male or female up for the rest of the night. To raise spirits Ákos arrived with his moth trap and popcorn. It was amazing to see literally 100’s of beetles and moths surrounding the trap. Owain and Matt also saw a strange sheet of light that could not be explained in a field by the slip road. The team decided to stake out the female roost to find out when she came back. Jen and Owain found the female to be back at her roost at the early time of 3:25 and were amazed to see the male leaving the church around the same time. After a long evening they both decided to head home. On the way, they saw strange lights in a field that appeared to be dancing, and have attributed this paranormal activity as the eyes of the oogly boogly monster.
16th July: Today was set aside as a recovery day after the late finish. The cohort thoroughly enjoyed the day. The girls cooked lasagne and carrot cake, Matt slept in and Owain went on a bike ride.
Tuesday 21st July: Continued to make nest boxes in the daytime. In the evening we went radiotracking. Mike, Elly and Andrea walked up the ridge and found the wooded track at the top of the ridge was very overgrown with nettles and golden rod. We bashed our way through (seeing a glow worm on the way which was worth the stings and bites!) and finally came out into the clearing. We heard the male briefly to start with but then he appeared to move south out of our range – however as it took a long time to walk to our position we decided to stick it out for a bit. After a couple of hours where the other team were also not getting anything, we decided to change tactic and began the walk back to the car through the spooky woodland. Elly was leading and suddenly heard a snarl in front of her and in blind panic ran back to hide behind Mike, meanwhile Andrea screamed and also ran back slipping into a deep muddy puddle. Mike was our human shield and was expecting some horrible monster/wild boar to come out of the darkness chasing us….but I think we fully scared whatever it was off!!! We then found that we had somehow lost the compass and at that point called the night off…!!
Wednesday 22nd July: Owain and Jenny went on a bike ride in the morning and saw a Hungarian glider (a butterfly). Csaba picked people up in the afternoon to do a barn owl survey – emptied two nest boxes and held chicks while this was being done. Another church was due to be opened for access to barn owls but unfortunately the priest had changed his mind from the day before.
Thursday 23rd July: Day off!!! Owain and Jenny went to Hévíz to the thermal lake for a relaxing dip in the eggy water amongst the waterlilies. Lots of swallows and German and Russian tourists bobbing about!!! Meanwhile Matt and Elly went to the underground caves in Tapolca and after queuing for eternity finally got to paddle a boat around the underground water system – very cooling for such a hot day! We then all met up and went to Sümeg where we climbed up to the castle which is imposing on its limestone plinth and where belly dancing and archery were taking place. Finally we ate a nice dinner in a courtyard restaurant which had the cheesiest live music EVER.
Friday 24th July: Elly’s Birthday!!! We spent the day installing nest boxes, one of which was up a very rickety tower where the team were set a challenge of getting the box into the roof of the tower. However the height and the lack of flooring meant that nobody really wanted to climb up, although Jenny and Matt did get pretty high. In the end Ákos, the Monkey Man took lead over the challenge and shimmied up to install the nest box. We visited some little villages near the Croatian border but we couldn’t get the key to get in. In the evening we had a Bomba! Party without the bomba, beer and Uno, Akos’s fruit soup and an amazing birthday card collage of 90’s magazines and a bottle of Palinka!!! Cheers guys!
Saturday 25th July: We had another day of barn owl surveys, visiting some churches we hadn’t got in the day before. Two nest boxes were installed, in a church and in a derelict communist farm barn where we stopped for a picnic as well. One of the churches we surveyed there was evidence of little owl, including a dead one unfortunately, as well as long-eared bats and a black redstart nest. In the afternoon we went to Vése, a Blacksmiths Festival with stalls and music, blacksmith demonstrations and we finally tried lángos, which was delicious as it was baked in a traditional oven instead of fried!!
Sunday 26th July: A day of making nest boxes ready to put out in Felsőrajk. We also did some other handywork around the aviary – making a funky two-way catch on the door of the aviary and tidying and organising the workshop.
Monday 27th July: First stop was Felsőrajk, to put up a couple of barn owl nest boxes. The first was a huge 4 star hotel-style box which Matt made, which went into the farm where the male roosts. Whilst there, we managed to pinpoint the male roost site, in the barn next door to the open barn we installed the box in – with the help of the radiotracker and spotting a hole in the roof with 20 or so pellets underneath. A little owl was also seen in this barn prior to finding the roost site. The hefty box was installed smoothly whilst Elly and Mike went back to find the compass which was lost on the Night of the Snarling Monster. It was found next to the muddy puddle….unchewed and in full working order.
We also installed a Scop’s owl nest box on a tree in this farm. Next stop was a farm to the west of Felsőrajk where we installed a smaller nest box in a barn. Here the farmer told us that he owned a small disused water tower where in Felsőrajk where he knew barn owls were breeding. A check of this water tower found the nest site in the bottom of the water tank – 2 birds flew out and 2 juveniles were found inside. Very interesting as this nest site is within 500 metres of the church nest site we have been radiotracking. We then went to the Sandy Grassland Natura 2000 site and set out some quadrats ready for an experiment to see the best method of control for invasive Milkweed on the site. We saw a few praying mantis and a sand lizard which also had a tick! Time for radiotracking in the evening – we all started off in fairly high spirits but the male was moving around so much, and the Sika was not picking him up at all, by the time midnight came morale was very low and we gave up with no fixes…The female did not seem to be around much at all either.
Tuesday 28th July: Today we went back to the Sandy Grassland site, on the way picking up an injured young White Stork. It was missing all its flight feathers, suggesting somebody had pulled them out. Otherwise, it was healthy. The sun was beating down at the Sandy Grassland site where there is little shade, and we got on with work – In the 5 quadrats the number of plants were counted and 30 random plants were measured and seed pods counted. The quadrats were then treated as such: 1. Control; 2. Cutting; 3. Cutting and spraying; 4. Spraying; 5. Pulling up. Later on the White Stork was taken to the sanctuary and people went swimming in Lake Balaton.
Wednesday 29th July: An early start to go to a Natura 2000 site consisting of several carp lakes which had lots of bird life and some rare plants. We spent the morning spotting a great variety of birds, some of which are very rare or absent from the UK. Birds we saw included night heron, little bittern, white tailed eagle, kingfisher, sparrowhawk, ferruginous duck, pochard, great crested grebe, little grebe, great and little egrets, greenshank and common sandpiper. After lunch in a beautiful meadow nearby we went into the woods to find a white tailed eagle nest which needed to be GPS’d. Amidst clouds of mosquitoes we found the nest high up in a tree, with lots of long feathers below it…unfortunately due to the number of feathers we found, it appeared a young eagle had been devoured, perhaps falling from the nest during recent storms.
