Birding in Hungary IV
20 July 2026
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).
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.
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.
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)
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 having a scratch
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!
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.
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.
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!
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