Hevesi Füves Puszták (steppes) Protected Landscape Area

Hevesi Füves Puszták Protected Landscape Area, covering 8 199 hectares, is a freely accessible area belonging to the administration of Bükki National Park, located between the Tisza Valley and the Mátra. Its gravelly, sandy base was formed by alluvial cones of watercourses coming from the north.

Location

East of the Kiskörei reservoir, consisting of seven separate mosaic parts; it includes the areas between Füzesabony, Kisköre, Poroszló and Jászapáti, and the protected zones lie on the Heves Plain, Heves Floodplain, and Gyöngyös Plain sub‑plains.

The protected landscape consists of 15 area units:

Pélyi-szikesek (on the border of the settlements Pély, Jászivány and Tarnaszentmiklós)

Hamvajárás (with parts Nagy-fertő, Gulya-gyep, Garabont, on the border of the settlements Tarnaszentmiklós, Átány, Hevesvezekény, Kömlő and Kisköre)

Nagy-Hanyi-puszta (between Dormánd and Erdőtelek)

Kis-Hanyi-puszta (on the border of the municipalities Átány, Erdőtelek and Besenyőtelek)

Csörsz-árok (section between Dormánd and Erdőtelek)

Lógó-part (on the border of the municipality Kerecsend)

Magas-határ (on the border of the municipality Tiszanána)

Poroszlói-szikesek

Sarudi-tömb

Hevesi-gyepek (touching a section of the Hanyi stream)

Pusztafogacs (on the border of the municipalities Tarnaméra, Erk and Boconád)

Kétútköz (Poroszló)

Poroszlói-gyepek

Göbölyjárás (on the border of the municipalities Nagyút, Kompolt and Tarnazsadány)

Bene-terasz (on the border of the municipality Nagyút)

Characteristics

Its vegetation is formed by salt‑marshes. The salt‑marshes create mosaic habitats. The local loess grasslands have been utilized since the New Stone Age. The individual habitats, mainly found on the borders of Poroszló, Pély, Tiszanána, Kömlő, Erdőtelek and Átány, are surrounded by agriculturally cultivated lands. These areas are characterized by saline grass associations, loess barren grasslands, and marshy salt‑marsh grasslands. Most of these salt‑marshes are treeless steppes; in some places smaller groups, mainly of acacia, occur, but remnants of the once extensive lowland forest steppe oak‑oak associations that formed the former landscape can still be found in patches. The dry habitats of the salt‑marsh steppes are occasionally crossed by small streams or watercourses, which, due to poor drainage, develop into small to larger swampy, marshy saline habitats, whose banks are sometimes bordered by reed, cattail, willow or alder groves.

Other plant species occurring in the Hegyes Hilly Steppe Protected Landscape Area are as follows: meadow oxeye daisy (Aster sedifolius), rough milkvetch (Astragalus asper), spineless milkvetch (Astragalus exscapus), white lady's tresses (Cephalanthera damasonium), long-leaved lady's tresses (Cephalanthera longifolia), small-headed thistle (Cirsium brachycephalum), Tartarian sea kale (Crambe tatarica), red viper's bugloss (Echium russicum), small water-starwort (Elatine alsinastrum), Hungarian water-starwort (Elatine hungarica), broad-leaved helleborine (Epipactis helleborine), Tallo's helleborine (Epipactis tallosii), winged ragwort (Inula germanica), spuria iris (Iris spuria), watercress (Limosella aquatica), Kocianovich's toadflax (Linaria kocianovichii), creeping false pimpernel (Lindernia procumbens), grape hyacinth (Muscari botryoides), mouse-ear chickweed (Myosurus minimus), burnt orchid (Orchis ustulata), common hogweed (Peucedanum officinalis), tuberous sage (Phlomis tuberosa), Danube milfoil (Pholiorus pannonicus), slender plantain (Plantago tenuiflora), side-flowered buttercup (Ranunculus lateriflorus), creeping stonecrop (Sedum cespitosum), variable moonwort (Seseli varium), Janka's pennycress (Thlaspi jankae), angular clover (Trifolium angulatum).

Fauna

The steppes are also rich in bird and animal life. Among the breeding or feeding birds here are many protected, rare bird species. These include, for example, the lapwing, the curlew, or the marsh harrier, the little grebe, the red-legged partridge, the grey and red heron, the great bustard, the little bustard, which also nests here. But the meadow pipit, the stonechat, the skylark and the hare also regularly breed in the area. The blue and red whinchat and the wheatear nest in the woods of the steppe patches, while the skylark also occurs in the stony parts. Among mammals, the most common is the vole, which is the main prey of predatory birds.

The protection of the following species is among the region's priority tasks:

steppe eagle (Aquila heliaca)

black-winged kite (Circus pygargus)

Saker falcon (Falco cherrug)

blue goshawk (Falco vespertinus)

great bustard (Otis tarda)

European roller (Coracias garrulus)

Cultural values

The oldest human-made monument in the area is the Csörsz ditch, built in the 4th century AD, a section of which is part of the protected landscape zone. From these periods also come the kurgans and burial mounds characteristic of the region. The area's perhaps most significant cultural‑historical and ethnographic relics can be found in the traces and memories of 19th‑century peasant farming, e.g., the Kakas House in Átány, the Poroszló or Szihalom folk house. Further sights include the Casino in Heves, the Remenyik manor, the Szalgháry Castle in Hevesvezekény, the Almásy Castle in Tarnaméra, and in Poroszló the Réthly manor and the Graefl Castle between the two villages.