Kesznyéteni Tájvédelmi Körzet

The area of the Kesznyéteni Landscape Protection Zone is 6,084 hectares. The Landscape Protection Zone belongs to the Administration of the Bükk National Park.

Location

The landscape protection zone encompasses the plain cut off by the Tisza, the Takta, the Sajó and the dry Tisza of Tiszalúc, with abandoned riverbanks. The Tiszadob floodplain is integrally connected to the landscape protection zone and is under the supervision of the Administration of the Hortobágy National Park. Of the total 6,083.9 cadastral hectares, 1,576 cadastral hectares formed the former estate called Kocsordos farm (1,154 ha in Tiszadob and 422 ha in Kesznyét), whose centre was the Boldogfai Farkas–Lenz manor, which is currently in a deserted state. József Lenz, a commercial counselor and wholesaler, father of Lenz Klára, wife of Boldogfai Farkas Endre, owned a total of 935 cadastral hectares in Kesznyét.

Characteristics

The purpose of the protection declaration is the protection of the species‑rich flora and fauna, as well as the landscape values of the riparian forests, shrub thickets, reed beds, swamp meadows, and dead arms that have formed in the southern part of the Takta area as a result of the regulation of the Tisza. One quarter of the area is listed among the internationally important water habitats of the Ramsar Convention, and it has also been included in the WWF beaver re‑introduction program.

Flora and Fauna

At the time of the protection declaration, this was the largest heron colony in Eastern Hungary, but it also hosts the great and little bittern, the black‑crowned night‑heron, the little bittern, the kingfisher, the greylag goose, the water rail, various meadow species, the marsh harrier, the brown harrier and the blue harrier, and even the saker falcon. In addition to birds, numerous botanical values can be found (rucaüröm, summer thistle, Debrecen horseradish, elegant willow, peat fern, marguerite, tufted sedge, veil‑kissed lady’s‑slipper).

Among the arthropods, the damselfly belonging to the order Odonata, the common damselfly, appears in the thousands in the second half of June in the waters of the Tisza. Among the insects, the protected species are the golden-spotted damselfly, the rough damselfly and the meadow damselfire, but the area also hosts the giant stag beetle, the stag beetle, the rhinoceros beetle, the large hawk moth, the small ornamental butterfly, the ornate ringlet butterfly and the marsh fritillary.