Mohos Lake of Kállósemjén

Despite of the fact that the marshland was very well-known beforehand, it was designated as a protected area in 1954. The famous Hungarian botanist, Ádám Boros was in search of the Nyírség in 1920. He gave the first academic news about the marshland. Béla Tikos, the notable forester-naturalist was the first scientist, who put forward a proposal to protect the area. According to Béla Tikos's professional reasons the general conditions of the Mohos lake were very different from the present ones. The area has been suffering adverse, quick changes since the beginning of the last century. The marshland did not exist on its original habitat. The reclamation of the Nyírség caused the destruction of the marshland. Subsoil water-springs containing iron welled out on the edge of the marsh in the first part of the last century. Probably these springs dried up firstly and then the water-level of the lake decreased desperately. The floating marshes grounded when the roots of the common sallow anchored them.

Open water surface and floating-marshes have remained on the cleared northern part of the lake. At that time some plant species were observed like the Common reed and the White Water-lily. The marshland consisted of the Lesser Bulrush and the Marsh Fern too. The Bogbean almost disappeared but some stems of the Cowbane were observed there.

At the beginning of the eighties the nature conservation wooded the neighbourhood of the Mohos lake to stop the decaying conditions. The next step was to build the inundant-system of inland waters. The interventions caused advantageous effects in the next couple of years. The protectedParnassus-leaved Water-plaintain appeared again on the lakeside. Despite of the actions the quality of the water was in a bad condition. The underground water-level sank rapidly because of the lingering drought. By the end of the decade the Mohos lake was exsiccated. A supply-canal system was built to preserve the marshland from 1992 to 1997. The water-supply-system protected not only the Mohos lake but also the Nyárias marshland, which is the neighbour of the Mohos. We hope that the case of the floating marshes of Baláta Lake (in Somogy) and Vajai -storage lake (in Nyírség) will happen again that is after the water conditions become arranged the floating marshes will cover certain parts of Mohos Lake with their old beauty.

Mihály Vass discovered the Nyárias marsh when he was researching the botanical values of the Mohos lake. The Buch-bean-moss plant association can be found in the Nyárias which disappeared from the Mohos. The Common-reed and Sedge (Carex) cover comparatively a wide area.

Because of its values this marshland was taken under protection in 1988 as an extention of the former protected area. It consists of 85 ha. Meanwhile the Nyárias and the neighbouring agricultural areas became protected, too.

2. Destination and characteristics of the area

Some protected, valuable species disappeared definitively from the area like the Leucanthemum serotinum and the Eriophorum latifolium which was registered in the thirties. The northern part of the lake was a real lake with a whitish, hard sandy bottom. This part was rich in floating tangles and bladder-worts. Characteristic species of the marshland could be found like as Utricularia bremii and Utricularia minor and the rare Sharp-leaved Pondweed. The Lesser Naiad and Holly-leaved Naiad were observed as well as in the Balaton lake. The Lychnothamus barbatus has not been found in other parts of Hungary yet. Unfortunately the above plant species had been disappeared by the next survey of the marshland in 1981. In 1981 only Utricularia minor was found. At that time this part of the lake was used as a bathing establishment. A large part of Mohos lake was a floating marsh which was closed round with living-open water. The Marsh Fern, Common-reed, Sedge form the floating marshland. From these the Floating-bog-sedge disappeared. Unfortunately this habitat has not been found anywhere in the Great-Hungarian Plain nevermore.

The marshland was rich in Great Spearwort, Cowbane, Carex diandra where the floating marsh joins the edge of the lake.

A sparse greenwood of the Grey Willow grew on it and a great number of White Water-lily burst into bloom. A specificness of the muddy shores was the Parnassus-leaved Water-plaintain.

One of our arthropodal species, the Dytiscus latissimus could find its home here in Mohos-lake. First it appeared in 1942 but it hasn,t been observed since then. It is so rare that it has not been found for decades in other foreign countries which are richer in marshes.

There are ideas to form a state property to the north, to the area of Nagy-Mohos where the new area could be reafforested with indigenous species of trees and the water-supply of Kis-Mohos could be made better.

It can become quite a big protected area.

In this way it would contain both gems of the marshland of Nyírség, the Kállósemjén Mohos-Lake and Nyárias, too.