National park: the Drava section

Along the Hungarian section, its gradient gradually decreases, and the sediment becomes deposited. Typical formations created by the Drava are shoal islands which keep forming and decaying constantly, thus also changing their location. They serve as a typical habitat for pioneer vegetation. The pinkish flowers of German tamarisk, to be found only here in Hungary, open in spike inflorescences from May onwards. The shore is lined with floodland gallery forests, white willow, white poplar and black poplar being the typical trees of the canopy layer, with common dogwood occorring frequently and guelder rose also being present. Protected ferns of the lush undergrowth include adder’s tongue and scouring rush, the latter appearing in masses at some locations. The following stage of succession where the terrain is somewhat more elevated, is oak-ash-elm forest. Among herbaceous plants, western squill, cuckoopint, narrow-leaved helleborine, black bryony and thin-spiked wood sedge are notable. The Zákány-Őrtilos Hills are home to Illyric oak-hornbeam and beech forests which are both quite special in Hungary. It is only here that three-leaved anemone, three-leaved cuckoo-flower and balm-leaved archangel grow in Hungary. Where there used to be clear-cut forests, today there are secondary habitats such as wet meadows or marsh meadows. Their rare flowers include the Siberian iris, early marsh-orchid, lax-flowered orchid and sweet flag, the latter easily recognised from its spadix type of inflorescence.
 
The Barcs Juniper Grassland is an acidophilic vegetation on acidic sandy soils, where mosses, lichens and Hungarian fescue appear first among the junipers, followed by sandy open grassland association. Plant rarities include small pasque-flower, sand hog’s fennel and dwarf everlast. In the areas with no drainage, marshland plants grow. Peat mosses and crested wood fern grow on the “footed alders”. Only here in Hungary we can find royal fern and willow-leaved meadowsweet.

Almost 4,500 species of animals live in the diverse habitats of the national park along the Drava. The Drava caddisfly is a sign that the Drava is still a clean river: it is home to the only viable population of this species on Earth. Caddisflies and mayflies spend long larval periods in the water, and their only function in their short adult life is to reproduce. The strictly protected huchen, the zingel, the European grayling and the bastard sturgeon are rare representatives of our fish. On the barren gravel bars, the little tern and the little ringed plover are found nesting again, and the common tern also breeds here. The “high bank” i.e. the vertical loess wall at some sections of the river provides a habitat for sand martins and bee-eaters, but also kingfishers and hoopoes can nest here. The Drava plays a key role in the migration and wintering of waterfowl. After the stagnant waters freeze over, thousands of birds gather here on the open water surface. The softwood gallery forests are home for Freyer’s purple emperor, a wonderful butterfly, while hardwood gallery forests and moist deciduous forests are characterised by the round-mouthed snail and another gastropod Helicigona planospira found only here in Hungary. Treasures of the avifauna include the strictly protected white-tailed eagle, black stork and black kite.

Inhabitants of the small villages along the river used to be mainly engaged in animal husbandry, grazing cattle, foals, sheep and pigs. In the remaining dug wells in pastures, hart’s-tongue ferns grow. In the surviving ancient trees of former wooded pastures, staghorn beetles and longhorn beetles develop. The tree holes are home to nesting starlings, tree sparrows and the rare hoopoes. The old crafts of trough carving and basket weaving were associated with softwood gallery forests. The excellent timber from the hardwood forests was used for building fortifications and making potash. In some villages of the Ormánság such as Kórós, Drávaiványi, Adorjás or Kovácshida, you can still see the painted wooden ceilings in old churches.