Boros István (szerk.): A Magyar Természettudományi Múzeum évkönyve 2. (Budapest 1952)

Horváth, L.: Ornithologic observations in the alder woods of the Hanság

Ornithologie Observations in the Alder Woods of the Hanság By L. Horváth (Budapest) The Hanság is the deepest depression of the Lesser Hungarian Plain, where the blockedup waters of the rivers Kisrába, Répce and Ikva marshify the whole territory. It can be ascertained even from smaller exposures (ditches, pits) that under the upper humus layer of an average depth of one foot there is some half a meter deep peat layer. Under the peat clay and sand lie. The Alder Woods are not autochton in their present site ; about 200 years old maps and the remains of logs found in the soil bear witness that the old forests lay on the southern edge of the Hanság. Agriculture in its slow forward march pressed them back to the north. The present Alder Woods originate mainly from the XX century, planted mainly, with a smaller aftercrop. Its most characteristic parts are the northern section of the Kapuvár Alder in the corner of the Kisrába and Répce ; and the district of the »Harcsástó Alley« in the Boldogasszony Alder. The trees stand here on 1—2 meters high »spider's legs«, with sometimes 6—8 trunks from the same stock, one bole being 20—30 centimeters in diameter. The »spider's legs« are thick roots boring down in the older decaying stunts which are later su/ept away by the moving water. The rest of the Alder Woods consist of younger trees of various ages. In some places old white poplars (»békási nyáras«) and younger black walnut plantations disconnect the alder thickets. Also, on higher ground, there are some young oak and acacia coppices. The »harcsástói« part and the northern portion of the »kapuvári alder« of the main Alder Woods stood under water during my investigations in the spring and summer of 1949. The remaining parts of the Woods were marshy or dry. in the humid parts an impassable shrubbery grew man high of cleavers ; in the higher places of nettle, poison hemlock, and blackberry. In the thinner thickets traveler's joy and alder were abundant. I spent 13 days in the Alder Woods in the spring of 1949, and made my observations independent of the weather. These days were : February 26, 27 ; Aprtl 14, 15, 16, 25 ; May 9, 21, 22, 28, 29 ; June 4, 1*1. The territories of my ornithologie observations were the Boldogasszony Alder and the Királyrét. This territory is about the half of the big Hanság Alder Woods. My investigations were not extended on the whole Boldogasszony Alder,, but chiefly on its southern part of the »House-Alley«. This section can best be demarcated as being limited by the alley called »House-Alley« 4 kilometres in length, running parallel with the Hanság Canal ; the Répce in 6 kms, and after the mouth of the Kisrába the line of the Rábca in the south ; the Királyrét in the east ; and the canal running in a southwestern direction west of the forester's house. There is also an adjoining wood of 4 square miles in the corner of the Répce and the Kisrába : this is still a part of the Boldogasszony Alder (called locally the Kapuvár Alder), as are also the meadows in it's neighbourhood between the forest and the Miklós major. From an ornithologie point of view the rather dense network of abundant, swampy clearings in the woods as also the alleys are a decided advantage. When reviewing the wood biotop I cannot go by without mentioning the life of the adjoining territories. So I had to look up the Királyrét and the Miklós major. I found that the various bird colonies separated for breeding connect by 169