Vig Károly: Zoological Research in Western Hungary. A history (Szombathely, 2003)

220 Phylum Vertebrata stretch of the Rába. Among the first records for Szombathely was a young bird that spent November 28-December 2, 1973 on the Boating Lake. Another three birds were seen there on November 15, 1980 (VARGA and KIRÁLY 1981a). A pair on the quarry lake at Gyöngyöshermán probably bred (Poós 1991). Several birds were captured on Fertő in 1966 for Budapest Zoo (РОКА 1966). Mute swans regularly appeared (ANON. 1979b) and bred on Fertő in the 1970s (KÁRPÁTI 1978a; ANON. 1980a; HORVÁTH and KÁRPÁTI 1985), where the population was put at 1-13 pairs in 1987-96 (MOLNÁR В. 1997). Only a couple of years later, further increases in population and distribution could be reported (HORVÁTH and KÁRPÁTI 1985; KÁRPÁTI 1987c; SZINAI 1998). The bee-eater (Merops apiaster) breeds mainly in steep, south-facing shorelines of gravel and sandpits. In Vas County, 56 pairs bred at 13 pits in 1991 and 129 pairs at 19 pits examined in 1993 (GYURÁCZ and SZANYI 1994a, 1994b and 1994c). There were altogether 71 breeding pairs at 13 out of 19 pits examined in 1996 (GYURÁCZ 1996). In 1997, the largest breeding ground (for 27 pairs) on the walls of the Gérce sandpit facing south and southeast were endangered by plans to bank them put forward by garden owners at the foot of the cliff. Fortunately, the cliffs were saved with the agreement of the autho-rities, after some accidentprevention measures had been taken. The south-facing walls at the Izsákfa sandpit were banked, on the other hand (GYURÁCZ et al. 1997). Coordination of the national programme for protecting bee-eaters has been located in Szombathely since 1997, as recognition of the successful protection work done in Vas County. The conditions of the beeeater colonies in Vas County was summarized by JÓZSEF GYURÁCZ (1999). The national situation does not give grounds for much optimism either (GYURÁCZ 1997b). There were an estimated 181 pairs at 19 breeding sites in Vas County in 2000, although several sites (including Izsákfa and Gérce) had been rendered unsuitable by then (GYURÁCZ 2000a). In 2001, there were 143 pairs at 19 sites (GYURÁCZ 2001), and in 2002, 121 pairs at 18 sites, which meant there had been a 15 per cent decrease in numbers (GYURÁCZ 2002). FERENC JÁNOSKA (1993C) undertook ethnological observations of the bee-eaters breeding at a pit on the edge of Albertkázmérpuszta. The work on bee-eaters yielded a count of sand martins (Riparia riparia). Breeding-pair numbers in Vas County were put at 1090 in 2000 (GYURÁCZ 2000a), 995 in 2001 (GYURÁCZ 2001) and 780 in 2002—a fall of over 21 per cent since the previous year (GYURÁCZ 2002). The barn owls (Tyto alba) of Western Transdanubia have been squeezed out of the church towers that were their traditional breeding sites. A 1987 survey found breeding in 9 out of 62 settlements on the Little Plain (Kisalföld) of Győr-Moson-Sopron County (GYURÁCZ 1989; see also Szűcs SZABÓ and MARTON 1985). In 1988, there were barn owls breeding in only 5 out of 95 settlements in Vas County (GYURÁCZ 1988a and 1988b). They were choosing different nesting sites (haystacks, the attics of grain stores) to escape disturbance, but the change meant that more nests were being destroyed,