Birding in Hungary 2026 - Day 4 - BÜKK HILLS PART 2

Birding in Hungary IV

20 July 2026

Hor-völgy

Today, we packed our bags to check out of the hotel before 10:00am. We decided to visit one of the best birding sites in the Bükki Nemzeti Park, the Hor-völgy (Hor valley). 

Bogacs sunset from the night before

Hor Valley entry

We arrived at a rock face, where I had been hoping to see Rock Bunting, a bird that is very rare in Hungary, but does breed in the Hor Valley. Sadly, we only saw a Hawfinch, a Buzzard, and a couple of Ravens. We later stumbled into a tit flock, where we got nice views of Marsh Tit.

Marsh Tit

Marsh Tit

We then kept walking spotted a few Nuthatches and other fairly common birds on the way. Before long, we reached the Suba-lyuk barlang, a cave that is a famous archeological site since it was once home to a tribe of Neanderthals. Nowadays, a small group of Brown Long-Eared Bats inhabited the cave. On the way up the mountain to the cave, which was at an altitude of about 400m, I saw some Chequered Blues, a lifer.

Brown Long-Eared Bat hanging upside down

Nice view from the cave entrance

Male Chequered Blue

Eventually, my mum and I, who had fallen behind a little, took a turn and found a pocket of flowers that was absolutely teaming with butterflies. Everything from Scarce Swallowtails, Large Whites, Common Blues and almost everything in between!

Here is a list of the butterflies we saw some photos and my eButterfly checklist for this location:

• Scarce Swallowtail
• Large White
• Cryptic Wood White (lifer!)
• Pale Clouded Yellow (lifer!)
• Common Blue
• Meleager's Blue (lifer!)
• Chalkhill Blue
• Silver-studded Blue
• Grizzled Skipper (lifer!)
• Mallow Skipper (lifer!)
• Large Skipper (lifer!)
• Red Admiral
• Spotted Fritillary (lifer!)
• High Brown Fritillary (lifer!)
• Chequered Blue
• Jersey Tiger (moth)

Scarce Swallowtail

Large White

Cryptic Wood White (identified based on location)

Pale Clouded Yellow (lifer!)

Meleager's Blue (front)

Chalkhill Blue (back)

Chalkhill Blue

Grizzled Skipper (above)

Scarce Swallowtail (below)

Mallow Skipper

Large Skipper

Spotted Fritillary

High Brown Fritillary

Female Chequered Blue

Jersey Tiger

After the others joined us, I switched my interest back to birds, I played the call of Rock Bunting, and within a few seconds, a bird responded. After a bit of searching, I saw it, a male Rock Bunting, sat preening on a rock on the cliff face. I watched it for a bit before it joined a female and they both flew away.

Male Rock Bunting 

Male Rock Bunting having a scratch

Butterfly Hotspot and Rock Bunting Cliff

After these amazing sightings, we moved on, seeing what other birds we could see. There were some Nuthatches, Marsh Tits, some Silver-washed Fritillaries. Eventually, we heard and then saw a woodpecker, which, upon further inspection, turned out to be my lifer White-backed Woodpecker!

Female White-backed Woodpecker

We watched it for a while and continued only a bit further, seeing many of the same birds, as well as a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, and a Comma. When we were just about to turn back, I saw a black and white butterfly dart past us, I shouted out "Hungarian Glider!" but when we saw some more flying past, they ended up being simply Common Gliders (aka Pallas' Sailer), which was still a lifer and a very cool butterfly, though seeing one that is named after the country would have been even nicer.

Common Glider

We were back near the car park, at the first cliff face, when I was photographing a fritillary. I noticed it looked different from the others, so I crouched down and, just as I had suspected, it was my favourite butterfly of all time, and a lifer: the Queen of Spain Fritillary.

QoS Fritillary

QoS Fritillary displaying its

charateristic white Unh spots.

Common Glider underside

After some time, several more Queen of Spain Fritillaries and a Common Glider landed near us to drink from a muddy puddle on the road. Just before leaving, I also saw a Wall Brown, our 18th species of butterfly for the outing!

Wall Brown

Violet Carpenter Bee, the largest bee in Europe

Birding in Hungary 2026 - Day 3 - BÜKK HILLS PART 1

Birding in Hungary III

19 July 2026

Tard

Today, despite watching the France vs England match into the early hours of the morning, I still woke up at half past four, with about 3 hours of sleep. Eager to start getting some lifers, however, I couldn't fall back asleep. 

While everyone else was sleeping, I crept out onto the balcony, from where I heard and saw many birds, such as: Spotted Flycatcher, Hawfinch, Serin, a Sparrowhawk, Great Spotted Woodpecker.

Spotted Flycatcher

We therefore drove to the nearby town of Tard, where there is a nature reserve. Upon arrival, we saw loads of Bee-eaters and two Turtle Doves, which were perched on a wire, with the male displaying to the female.

One of the Turtle Doves

We walked onto the reserve, where started by seeing a Buzzard, Stonechats, heard some Green Woodpeckers, and saw many Red-backed Shrikes. Later, we walked up a small hill, where we saw some butterflies, mainly Meadow Brown, although I got my lifer Silver-studded Blue. 

Male Silver-studded Blue

While watching butterflies, I heard a Grey-headed Woodpecker, a lifer! It sounded like it was coming from a nearby wooded patch. I went into the small wood, and soon spotted an Icterine Warbler, and heard a few Marsh Tits. While listening for the Grey-headed Woodpecker, which called occasionally from nearby, I heard a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. I eventually got brief views of the latter, but the former never made an appearance. We then found pieces of honeycomb on the ground, which we think is from a Honey-Buzzard, having attacked a bee or wasp nest.  

I then saw a woodpecker, which turned out to be a Middle Spotted Woodpecker, our 5th woodpecker of the day, and I heard a Short-toed Treecreeper, and a few Nuthatches.

Middle Spotted Woodpecker

In the open "puszta" habitat, we saw some Buzzards, and a couple Ravens, but it was otherwise not the most bird rich area. 

View looking south towards the village of Tard

Later that day, we heard a Syrian Woodpecker, our sixth Picadae sp. of the day, and something that Hungary is famous for. We also saw a Hummingbird Hawk-Moth

Hummingbird Hawk-Moth

In the evening we got views of an Imperial Eagle near Tard, where we had been birding in the morning.

Birding in Hungary 2026 - Day 2

Birding in Hungary II

18 July 2026

Visegrádi Vár

Today, we decided to go to the famous 13th century fort at Visegrád, about 30km North of Budapest. This historic castle was where King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary, ruled, from 1458 to 1490. As well as being king of Hungary, he was king of Croatia and Bohemia, and the Duke of Austria. This castle was the the venue for the Congress of Visegrád, in 1358. This congress, between the kings of Hungary, Poland, and Czechia, settled territorial disputes, established new trade opportunities and formed an alliance against the Habsburg Dynasty, which was centred in modern-day Austria. 

King Matthias of Hungary

The castle was a strategic location offering spectacular views, to this day, of the Dunakanyar (the point where the Danube turns and begins flowing South instead of East. For a while, King Vlad III of Romania, commonly known for being the inspiration for the character of Dracula, was held prisoner at Visegrád.

The Danube (Duna), viewed from downstream

Lookout at Visegrád

We parked about 15mins walk from the castle, so we had a nice walk thourgh the beech forests until the castle. On the way, we saw a Silver-washed Fritillary, some Long-tailed Tits, a Treecreeper, and several Nuthatches. On the way back, I also heard two distant Stock Doves, calling to each other. 

Silver-washed Fritillary

We also saw a few butterflies, including a Scarce Swallowtail at the castle, and my lifer Cardinal butterfly, near where we had parked the car.

Female Cardinal Butterfly

We then drove to Pomáz, near Budapest, where we visited my parents' marriage venue for the first time.

Bogacs

After that, we drove to Bogacs, near the Bükk Hills NP, in the North-East of Hungary. Bogacs will be our base for the couple days we are spending in the region, hopefully seeing some good birds in the time that we spend here. 

In the evening, before watching the France v. England football match, I set up a makeshift moth trap, to see what species we could catch here.

Birding in Hungary 2026 - Day 1 - Way There

Birding in Hungary I

17 July 2026

Aberdeen Airport ABZ

Today, we arrived at Aberdeen Airport, before our flight to Budapest, via Amsterdam. 

Amsterdam Schiphol Airport AMS

During our layover, I spent a bit of time birding, spotting mainly a few Herring Gulls, and some Carrion Crows.

Budapest City Park

Once having arrived in Budapest, and had dinner at our aunt and uncle's place, we went to Budapest City Park (Városliget), for a bit of birding. We heard some Green Woodpeckers, and found a Great Spotted Woodpecker nest, but other than that and a few Little Grebes feeding chicks, it was quite quiet, birdwise anyway, since a huge disco was probably keeping the birds from being very vocal.

Oxfordshire Birding July 2026

Birding Oxfordshire

8-9 July 2026

Our house, Headington, Oxford

This morning, after having the moth trap up all night, we took out the moths to ID them, before releasing them. To our surprise almost 70 macro moths were in the trap in the morning, with over 100 micros! Of these, we were only able to ID a handful, since I have only just gotten into moth trapping and moths in general. Of the species we did manage to identify, here is a list

Moths caught in our garden

Least Carpet (below)

Bird-cherry Ermine (above)

Large Yellow Underwing

Elephant Hawk-Moth

Yellow Shell Moth

Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing

Farmoor Reservoir

Today, (July 9th) my dad dropped me off at Farmoor Reservoir, one of the premier birding destinations in Oxfordshire and Southern England. It is the largest open body of water in Oxfordshire and therefore attracts a lot of waterbirds. When I arrived, I had to wait a bit for the Reservoir to open, so I stayed in the village, where my dad had left me. I was delighted to spot a Hobby flying low over the trees as I waited.

When I reservoir opened, I was surprised to find it quite empty. There were a few Cormorants, Coots, some Egyptian Geese, and some Common Terns and Black-headed Gulls, but it was otherwise very quiet, this was possibly caused by a foul odour that was probably because of some sort of chemical leak on Reservoir II, I therefore had to remain near the North Reservoir, with all the birds, if I were to survive the outing.

Coot

Cormorant

I spent about half an hour watching some odonata, including many Black-tailed Skimmers, and some damselflies, probably Azure damselflies.

Black-tailed Skimmers

I then walked around Reservoir I. I saw many more dragonflies, including Emperor and Lesser Emperor Dragonflies. I also heard a Yellow Wagtail, a year tick for me. I then crossed the causeway spotting the regular Yellow-legged Gull with a couple of Great Black-backed Gulls out on Reservoir I. Sadly, there weren't any waders on the causeway, but I did spot a couple Tufted Ducks, two of only four that I saw that day. 

Lesser Emperor

Juvenile Great Crested Grebe

Great Black-backed Gull

Yellow-legged Gull

Yellow-legged Gull (and the origin of the unbearable stench)

Yellow-legged Gull audio recording

(click on image to open in Macauly Library)

Tufted Duck

Canada Goose

Wytham Woods

I then took the bus to Botley, from where I walked to Wytham Woods, at Botley Gate. My target here was Marsh Tit, a species I somehow haven't yet seen, and would therefore be a lifer for me.and would therefore be a lifer for me. Upon arrival, I heard a couple Spotted Flycatchers (year tick), and many Robins.

The back of a Spotted Flycatcher

While listening to a few Chiffchaffs, I suddenly heard the song of Marsh Tit, and Merlin also picked it up. I turned around, looking for any movement in the trees, and soon got eyes on my lifer Marsh Tit. I got a few photos before it dissapeared into the bracken.

Marsh Tit audio recording

(click on image to open in Macauly Library)

Marsh Tit

Wytham Woods is often regarded as the world's best studied woodland, with numerous studies on rodents, badgers, bats, moths, and most notably, the Paridae family. The ornithological studies here are run by Oxford University's Edward Grey Institute (EGI for short), and are overseen by my friend Professor Ben Sheldon. 

As I walked some more around the forest, I heard Green Woodpecker, Nuthatch, Jay, and some Chiffchaffs with food. There was also a lot of Butterfly activity, with Large White, Red Admiral, Comma, and Small Skipper all being present in good numbers.

Red Admiral

Small Skipper

Comma

I then called it a day and took the bus back to Headington.