The world as frankps sees it!
Travels
Just wanted to sort out all the blog entries over the travels and holidays I have done, as I find them to be the best ones. Don’t we all just love to write about all the great things that we have done?
The Cranes on Hortobágy
04 months ago
Preparations
I have been a long time follower of Sakertour, both on Facebook and their blog. And when I saw a possibilities of visiting their hides, I made contact with János Oláh. He was of great help, and together we went through traveling route and booked a bed & breakfast for two nights. There is also an hotel in the area, if you prefer that over b&b.
Cranes to Tower: We're coming in for landing
Most Scandinavians would probably hired a photography hide at Hornborgasjön (Lake Hornborga) in southern Sweden. Interested can contact Falköping Tourist Information.
How can anyone land here?
Getting to Hortobágy
Just as the migration of the cranes in the autumn, I fly also in the direction Hungary. The only difference is that I fly comfortable with Norwegian. From the Ferihegy airport I took the intercity train to Debrecen. Tickets can be bought at the airport, and remember that on parts of the trains you will need a seat reservation as well. The time schedule to Debrecen can be found at MÁV-START. In Debrecen you change train to Balmazújváros, a town only 27 km away.
A crane that has just landed
Balmazújváros
A characteristic town of the Great Hungarian Plain with 18,800 inhabitants, located 25 km from Debrecen at the north-eastern edge of the Hortobágy National Park, bordered by the tourist area of Hajdúszoboszló-Debrecen-Hortobágy. The settlement gained the privileges of a market-town already in medieval times.
A pair of cranes at the riverside
Darassa Puszta, which is the most valuable and colourful part of the Hortobágy National Park, is situated near the town.
Look! I'm bigger then you...
Tourists are attracted by the all year round open medicinal thermal bath with 6 pools and the growing number of places for private accommodation. The hotel were the photographers are accommodated is next to this bath and only a 100 meters from the railway station. Visitors of the hotel have free access to the thermal bath, a good thing if you are staying for more then one day!
Stop, you have to stay with your parents
Hortobágy
Hortobágy is both the name of a village in Hajdú-Bihar county and an 800 km² national park in Eastern Hungary. It is the largest continuous natural grassland in Europe. The area became a national park in 1973. A major part of the area of the National Park is formed by natural habitats, alkaline grasslands, and meadows, smaller and bigger marshes enclosed between them. Some artificial wetlands covering a much smaller area are of considerable importance: these are the fishponds, situated on 6 thousand hectares. The marshes and fishponds are breeding habitats of birds and important sites for the migrating birds.
The fish I saw was this big!
The system of fishponds of Hortobágy-Halastó covering 2073 hectares was created in 1915 in a alkaline grassland area called “Csúnyaföld” (Bad Lands). Formerly there were seventeen ponds, while now seven are out of use being covered by reed or other marsh vegetation. 14 bird lookouts can be found here. The appearance of 340 bird species has been registered in Hortobágy, of which 160 species nest in the National Park. Among them are the Common Crane, Dotterel, Stone Curlew and Great Bustard (The Great Bustard programme). It cannot be doubted that one of the most spectacular sights is the migration of the cranes in the autumn. Tens of thousands of Cranes, which is also the symbolic bird of the Park, can be seen every October as they fly above the grasslands to their overnight roosting places. The Hortobágy Great Fishponds are considered as one of the most important waterbird habitats in Europe.
There's nothing like a crane fight
The Hortobágy National Park has been inscribed on the World Heritage List by UNESCO on the 1st of December in 1999 in the category of cultural landscapes, since the Hortobágy Puszta have been used by humans for grazing their domestic animals for more than two millennia.
Chilling it!
The Hortobágyi Bridge
A great stone bridge makes the symbol of the watery puszta (great plain). It was built between 1827 and 1833, and can be said to be the nerve centre of Hortobágy. The bridge has 9 arches and is 167,3m long. The stones for the construction were delivered fom Tokaj. It served as a significant commercial route from the Middle Ages regarding salt and cattle trade, and connected Transylvania and Pest-Buda.
The bridge is often photographed, it is extremely well known in the country, to such an extent that every year on August 20, a Bridge Fair is held here. This major event is the chance to rediscover the traditions of fairs dating back to the last century.
Take a bath or not?
The Crane Hides
Sakertour has three crane hides, two mobile hides and the roosting hide. I stayed in the roosting hide for a day. The hide is 125 cm wide, 250 cm long and 125 cm high. The size of the photo-through window is 210 cm by 40 cm. It is comfortable for two photographers. I saw at once that the hide was made by Bence Maté.
Suddently half of the cranes were up for their daily bath
The roosting hide has a strict regulation on its usuage, as the cranes are very shy birds. The hide cannot be abandoned during the day. I could enter the hide at 07:30 pm, and first leave it the next day at 16:30 am. That allowed me to take photos of the morning fly-in and the afternoon fly-out.
Do you want to pick a fight with me?
The Cranes
The migration of cranes (Grus grus) is a memorable late autumn experience. The number of cranes passing over the Hortobágy in October can be as high as a 100.000 birds.
Several cranes gathered
The cranes arrive from North Europe to Hortobágy. Their most important breeding sites are in Sweden and Russia, but can be found in other Baltic states, in Norway, Poland and in Germany as well. Cranes once used to nest in Central Europe, but due to the deterioration of their preferred breeding sites, such as large and undisturbed wetlands, the breeding population disappeared from the region. Cranes most probably nested also in Hungary until the middle of the 19th century.
A crane getting ready for departure
In Europe cranes use a western and an eastern route for their autumn migration. The cranes migrating on the eastern route have a rest in Estonia and Hungary (the western route leads to Spain and Portugal). Depending on the weather, they stay in Hungary for about 2 months, preparing themselves for the rest of their migration route to their wintering sites in Nothern Africa. In the southern part of the Hungarian Plain smaller flocks remain also for the winter. About 700-1000 individuals spend the entire summer here.
Cranes in sunset ready to leave the riverbanks
The Bonus
Sakertour lists some other birds visiting the hide: Great White Egret, Grey Heron, Greylag Goose, Greater White-fronted Goose, and the White-tailed Eagle.
A crane family flying away, with a farm in the background
A Few Words About Sakertour
I thought I should end this blog entry with a few words about Sakertour. The company has specialised in birdwatching and hide photography, and has over 30 years of professional experience in habitat conservation, biodiversity research and ecotourism. Sakertour is university based and led by János Oláh. They organize birdwatching trips in Hungary, Slovakia and Romania.
Hidephotography – Mitt andre besøk
0Denne sommeren besøkte jeg igjen Hidephotography, med en drøm om å få ta bilder av både Blåråke og Bietere. Sesongen var egentlig over, men jeg hadde jammen meg flaks. Ikke bare fikk jeg tatt bilder av disse fargerike fuglene, men jeg fikk også tatt bilder av hærfugler. Og som forrige gang, var det hyggelig å møte Bence Maté igjen. Jeg venter i spenning på en 3 episoders miniserie om ham og hans fotografering. Det skal sendes på ungarsk TV, men jeg er lovet en kopi.
Blåråke
Denne lille blodtørstige morderen holdt på å sette meg helt ut. Å sitte i et skjul ute på en kornåker, var rett og slett drepen. Temperaturen kom opp i nærmere 50 grader i skjulet. Jeg drakk store mengder vann, men det var slettes ikke nok. Heldigvis kom Blåråkene opp til flere ganger med mat til sine unger, og jeg fikk noen fine bilder.
Kosten består av et brett spekter av terrestriske virvelløse dyr og små virveldyr, som frosker, øgler, gnagere og unge fugler. De tar òg bytte som mange andre fugler unngår, slik som hårete larvar, insekt med varselfarger og slanger.
Blåråken er en trekkfugl, som hekker i Europa og overvintrer i Afrika.
Bieter
Bietere er i samme gruppe som fuglen ovenfor, nemlig råkefuglefamilien. Bence hadde fem par hekkende i en sandvoll.
De fleste artene finnes i Afrika, men andre forekommer i sørlige Europa, New Guinea og Australia. Fjærdrakten er oftest meget fargerik, og det gjelder i hvert fall arten som finnes i Europa. Som navnet tilsier lever de fleste artene av insekter som de fanger i lufta, for det meste bier og veps. Alle artene graver reirganger i grustak, jordvoller eller elvebredder.
Hærfugl
Hærfuglen har alltid vært en av mine favorittfugler, og jeg har lenge hatt lyst til å fotografere den. Denne sommeren fikk jeg nettopp denne muligheten.
Senere samme dag, viste jeg bildene til mormor, og hun kunne fortelle meg at fuglen hadde et velfortjent kallenavn, Büdös Banka (Büdös betyr stinkende). Dette skyldtes at fuglen gjerne har redet fullt av avføring. Denne vonde lukten er ment som et forsvar mot rovdyr. Hærfugler er også i stand til å sprute avføring på inntrengere.
Fuglen er på størrelsen med en trost, men med langt, tynt, litt buet nebb og meget lang nakketopp som kan reises som en høy hodevifte. Den hekker ikke i Norge, men streiffugler er sett over det meste av landet helt til Finnmark.
Og ja, jeg skal nok besøke Hidephotography flere ganger. På høsten kommer det Isfugler til området og Bence har store planer om et nytt skjul nede i et av våtmarksområdene. Har du lyst å besøke Hidephotography? Her er noen bilder jeg tok sist påske.
My First Bird Photos
29 months ago
I have been a frequent reader of the Norwegian photo magazine Natur & Foto since their very first issue. And in that very first issue, there was an article about Bence Maté and his Hidephotography project. Located at Pusztaszer not very far from our summer house. I wanted to try bird photography, so last autumn, I had my first walk in the area which resulted in this one picture:
I could only imagine how it would be in the spring. The area is so much alive then.
Later that autumn Bence Maté was voted BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year (2010). This made me want to visit his hides even more. After a phone call two days were set, I was this year’s first person to visit him. A little bit early in the season, but what a thrill!
Bence has built around 20 hides, both on his doorstep and around Hungary for photographing birds. The hides are very lavish and include the tower hide which overlooks trees where I managed to shoot this picture of a kestrel and his breakfast:
After the early morning session I was taken in to the forest, Bence has made several forest pool hides around his traditional Hungarian farm house. These hides are much cooler than the tower as they are sunk into the ground. I was actually almost freezing! They are also fitted with the mirror glass and look out over a concrete pool filled to the brim with water and lined with logs to disguise the edges. They can seat about three people. But we were only two, me and my guide, Gergely Nagy. On a still day, the water acts as a mirror and I got some wonderful reflections of the birds as they came to drink and bath.
At the pool hides I was able to shoot several birds, among them a Common Buzzard:
The Buzzard was jumping from tree to tree above the pool hide for about a 15 minutes. The waiting and praying was almost driving me crazy! The hope of getting such a magnificent bird on a 3 meters distance was to much. I could hardly sit still. And finally, it came down and posed for me for a long, long time:
When it finally left, I was exhausted! But there was more fun waiting for me. A group of jays had during the morning hours made a lot of noice in the forrest and they were getting closer and closer. The jays seemed even more shy then buzzard. They must have been 4 or 5, but only one would get down to the water at the time:
In the afternoon we took the trip to a hide at a lake close to the village Baks. I was to see a lot of white and grey herons, and not to forget a swan that was getting on my nervous. I was close to become a criminal in a national park. Not good, not good at all!
A grey heron found it’s way up to the hide and started cleaning it’s feathers 2 meters in front of me. It was so close that I could almost have grabbed it. The blood was pumping fast, just as the camera clicks. What an exciting day! But there was more…
The most beautiful creatures at that lake must have been the spoonbills. One got a little bit closer then the others, but sadly not as close as the grey heron.
I am not sure that I have found myself a new hobby. This was the first time I’ve done bird photography and I got memories for life. But I am not sure that a hobby goes on getting up when other go to bed is something for me. One thing is sure, I will take the ferre and visit Bence again…
Törley – Some sparkling bubbles for New Year’s Eve
01 year ago
I’m a frequent reader of “The Good Life” blog The Hungarian Girl.
New Year’s Eve is just a few days away and as we all know it’s the night that sparkling wine takes center stage. Although, sparkling wine from the Champagne region of France are most renowned, great sparklers can also be found and enjoyed throughout Central and Eastern Europe.
I’m not the greatest fan of sparkling wine (as some already know). Törley is Hungary’s leading sparkling wine producer dating back to 1882, and it’s today one of the most successful brands of sparkling wine outside of the champagne region. Their original name was “József Törley and Co.”, after it’s founder. This sparkling wine (in Hungarian: Pezsgő) is delicate, well balanced, and refreshing.
History
Törley is located just outside of Budapest, in the Budafok area. This area alone once had 18 different producers of sparkling wines! In the 1910′s the winery’s output reached 2 million bottles. After World War I ended and the Trianon Peace Treaty was signed, the level of champagne production by the Törley plant significantly decreased and touched bottom during the Great Depression. In 1929-30, the annual production barely reached 200,000 bottles. In the 1930s, the demand for sparkling wine increased again and during the Second World War production again reached 1 million bottles annually. During the wartime boom, the demand became far greater than the quantity which could be produced by the existing technology. Despite the demand that the war had created, the hostilities quickly reversed the Törley plant’s fortune when a bomb destroyed the main building and the majority of the factory’s stocks in July 1944. After World War II ended, Communism took control of Hungary and the winery was subsequently nationalized in 1949. Under nationalization, the government merged the François brothers’winery into Törley’s. The resulting Törley winery shrank to only four employees and the scope of the business was limited to selling what wine remained in stock. Production resumed in 1951 with Törley becoming the only champagne factory in Hungary and operating under the supervision of the Unicum Likõrgyár (the Unicum Liqueur Factory). The constantly increasing demand and the export possibilities encouraged the factory to develop an annual capacity of 30 million bottles by the end of the 1980s through continuous expansion and purchasing production lines of the latest technology. Today, the Törley factory produces some 12 to 14 million bottles each year and has close to a 50% domestic market share in Hungary.
By the beginning of the 20th century Törley sparkling wine was commonly known as “Hungarian sparkling wine” and vied in popularity with the Pest operetta. The name was identified with the heady drink served in hotels, cafés, restaurants, dance halls and bars everywhere. In 1907 the winery celebrated its 25th anniversary. By then Törley sparkling wines were known from America to Australia. The firm had warehouses in Hamburg, Berlin and Copenhagen. But the greatest recognition of all was that by then Törley had become a popular drink in Paris as well. On October 29, 2004, The Wall Street Journal’s wine critics rated Törley’s Grand Cuvee the second best sparkling wine in the world.
Sadly Törley, as so many other things, is not in Hungarian hands. Since 1992, Henkell & Söhnlein Hungaria Kft, a subsidiary of Henkell & Söhnlein Sektkellerei AG of Wiesbaden, Germany has owned and produced the Törley brand.
Visiting
Törley is open to the public through it’s museum, and you can walk through some of the cellars (where more than one million bottles are treated) and of course taste the sparkling wine in the Zsolnay Hall. In the cellars you will be introduced to the origin of sparkling wine, the secrets and methods of sparkling wine production.
The tours are offered in both Hungarian and foreign languages, and last about 70-90 minutes. Visitors are asked to register at least one week in advance. You can register over phone (+ 36 1 362-1634), fax (+ 36 1 362-1635) and e-mail (gyorgyvilla@palacecatering.hu). The visiting address is 1221 Budapest, Anna utca 5-7.
I hope to be visiting Törley next spring, so look out for a future blog post.
VisitOslo making use of social media
12 years ago
I’m happy (and grateful) to see that VisitOslo has chosen to include some of my pictures in their galleries on Flickr. It’s is great to see that they are making use of social medias in their marketing of Oslo, but most of all, I am grateful for being able to contribute with 5 pictures. I love Oslo, and I’ve been living in the areas around Kampen for 10 years now. It is such a great place to live! It is not the first time that somebody ask for permission to use some of my pictures from Kampen, back in 2007 Schmap!! did the same. Schmapp!! also asked for permission to use pictures for their Budapest guide. Of course, I said yes! Finally, I have also contributed with a picture in the German bike magazine Radfahren SPEZIAL “RadParadiese ‘07“, something I of course blogged about.
I’ve tagged several of my pictures with Kampen, Tøyen and Vålerenga. Feel free to take a look, and add a comment or two.
Update – 2009-11-18:VisitOslo keeps adding pictures I have taken to their galleries, and here are some more:
In total they are now using 9 of my pictures in their galleries 