Hajdúbagos Lesser Mole Rat Reservat NCA

This sandy pasture of about 265.4 ha, called Nagynyomás, is one of the most important habitats for Lesser Mole Rats in Hungary. It was placed under protection in 1976.

The main purpose is to protect the population and the habitat of lesser mole- rats.These rodential animals are protected.The protected area is situated in the southhern part of Nyírség.It belongs to the drainage area of Berettyó but directly to Derecskei-Kálló.Its height above sea level is 105m in the average and three parabolic sand-hills and dip give variety to its surface.This dip is seasonally full of water and it is called "Nyomás". Its soil is blackearth (chernozem) in the western parts but elsewhere humous-soil and loess-soil can be found.

The area is mainly grass but there is a forest (33.7 ha) consisting of indigenous species( Pedunculate Oak) and specis which are not characteristic ( Scot's Pine, Locust-tree, Red Oak, Poplar species).

Mainly the sandy grass, used for extensive grazing, characterizes the landscape of this protected area. 

2. Designation and characteristics of the area

If the visitors examine the higher part of the grassland, the lines of hills come to sight, the diameter of which is about one meter. They seem to be molehills but they are the Lesser Mole Rat's marks. Its habitat can be found under the surface.

The Lessel Mole Rat's subfamily belongs to the true mice's family. The Lesser Mole Rat's expanded habitat is situated on the grass steppes or half-desert lands of Near-East, South-Eastern Europe and Asia Minor. The westernmost occurence of these animals are in the Hungarian Great Plain, in the Carpathian basin. The Lesser Mole Rat is the only species, the habitat of which can be found in Hungary. The Lesser Mole Rat got naturalized when the climate of our Hungarian Great Plain was similar to the Eastern-European steppe in the last ice-age in the Carpathian basin.

But later the Lesser Mole Rat's population decreased after the last ice-age and its habitat became a small habitat-island on the loess and loess-sand places.

Its habitat was damaged in the highest degree when a wide part of the Hungarian Great Plain became an agricultural area. Earlier lots of places could be found in the eastern part of the Hungarian Great Plain where the Lesser Mole Rat was able to live.

János Földi, one of the first nature scientists in Debrecen, knew the Lesser Mole Rat in the second part of the XVIII. century and he named it "blind murmutér". The Lesser Mole Rat is a tubby rodent and its body is about 18-24 cm long. The Lesser Mole Rat's eyes are vestigial and its headskin covers them completely. Its head is wide and flat and its skull is thick. Its face is obtuse wedge-shaped and its incisors are strong and chisel-like. The Lesser Mole Rat's forelegs are suitable for gripping. This animal has two horny digging bulbs on its palm. Its short tail is totally covered with. The Lesser Mole Rat digs several kinds of underground channels. Its feeding channels can be found only 5-10 cm under the ground surface. After usage the animals bung them. The Lesser Mole Rat makes larders which are holes about 10-15 cm high. The larders are level with the feeding channels during the production term. But the position of winter larders are deeper than the others. This animal's dens are cavities 20-30 cm in diameter and they are about 20-30 cm under the ground surface. In spring the Lesser Mole Rat has one or two youngs.

The Lesser Mole Rat is plant-eater, mostly bulbs and roots of medicks, potatoes, mangels, carrots and parsleys. The Lesser Mole Rat cuts its food into small pieces and packs them into the soil and store them in the larder. The Lesser Mole Rat can not dig channels in every kind of soil. The hard alkaline soil, loose-sand soil and airless-clayey soil are not right for building lines because they are not suitable for digging channels in them. In spite of its hidden life style the Lesser Mole Rathas lots of enemies like dogs, Weasels, Stoat and Steppe Polecats. Lesser Mole Rats are very rare endangered species. The most significant Hungarian group of Lesser Mole Rats is protected in the reservation of Hajdúbagos. About 50-100 animals live there.

The protected area is the last extensive pastureland in the sandy Nyírség and the flora is prominent here. The most significant plant associations are the endangered pasque -flower-sandy-steppe-grass (Pulsatillo hungaricae-Festucetum rupicolae) and the sandy-pastureland of Nyírség (Potentillo arenariae-Festucetum pseudovinae) which is endangered, too. 5000 stems ofHungarian Meadow Pasque Flowers can be found here and they make one of the most valuable plant patch of the Hungarian flora. The rare Sandy Iris (Iris arenaria) and Golden Drop Baltic Golden Drop grow on the dry-steppe-grass and on the grass of the pastureland. The Green-winged Orchid and Hungarian Pink are very common on the sandy grass. Some stems of the Orchis coriophora flowers can be found on the fresh grass. The Lychnis coronaria and Rampion Bellflower like living on the small patches of Tatarian Maples and the edges of the oakwoods. The following plants are protected species of the Lesser Mole Rat reservation: Early Marsh Orchid,Lax-flowered Orchid, Meadowsweet, Small Meadow Rue, Milk-parsley, Pannonian Sea Aster,Hungarian Sea Lavender (Limonium gmelinii subsp. hungaricum).

This area is rich in insect species and protected species, too. Typical species are the protected Gambpsocleis glabra, the mediterranean Calliptamus barbarus and Oedealus decorus, Long-headed Grasshoppers and Praying Mantides. Valuable beetle species of the sandy-grassland are the Cicindella soluta and Cicindella hibrida, the protected Calosoma maderae auropunctatum and Carabus hungaricus, Tumblebug, Gymnopleurus mopsus. The larvae of lamellicorn species develop among the roots of grass. Species with a specific life style of Spider hunting wasps (Pompiliidae) and Digger wasps (Sphecidae) live on the barren sandy surface. From lots of butterfly species they should be mentioned: the Back-speckled Black-speckled, Purple-shot Copper is very common in the early summer and the Gossamer-winged Butterfly develops on the wet meadow. The habitat of Proserpinus proserpina and Noctuid Moths can be found on the wet meadow. The biggest wolf spider species, the Lycosa vultuosa lives on the short grassed part of Bagos pastureland. The nets of the Banded Epeira can be observed on the closed sandy grassland.

Among the vertebrata the amphibia and reptilia are not very significant. One of the frequent species is the European Tree Frog on the wet meadows and in the shrubs. Appearance of theCommon Spadefoot can be expected on the short grassy patches of the grassland. European Pond Tortoise European Pond Terrapin used to live there but they disappeared after the "Nyomás" had dried up. The Balkan Wall Lizard, the original habitat of which can be found in South-Eastern Europe, lives on the sparse grass of the sand dunes. The Sand Lizard came into sight on the closed grassland and shrubs.

The "bagosi-Nyomás" was an important nesting and nutrition place for lots of water-bird species. But in the early eighties these species disappeared because of the damage of the permanent water surface and muddy vegetation. The Black-necked Grebe, Red-necked Grebe, Little Grebe,Black Tern, White-winged Black Tern, Whiskered Tern, Mallard, Shoveler, Pintail, Garganey,Common Pochard, Gadwall, Black-winged Stilt were common in this region.

At present the pastureland provides a brooding place for bird species like Lesser Grey Shrikes,Red-backed Shrikes and Golden Orioles of sandy forests and shrubs. The protected area is an important feeding place for the colourful Bee-eaters, and some predator bird species likeKestrels, Gashawks Goshawk, Honey Buzzards and Common Buzzards.

From the mammals the European Souslik is the most important and protected one because it is the prey of the predators. The Steppe Polecat common Red Fox and Eurasian Badger can find enough food here.The Lesser Mole Rat Reservation in Hajdúbagos is a prominent protected area because the area includes the most important habitat of the Lesser Mole Rat which is threatened by extinction and unknownness to the north and west from here. This area is the last one of the almost disappeared sandy steppe habitats on Great Hungarian Plain.