Mártély Landscape Protection Area

The area of the Mártély Landscape Protection Area is 2 260 hectares. The landscape protection area belongs to the Administration of the Kiskunság National Park.

Location

The landscape protection area lies in a line with Hódmezővásárhely, on the left bank of the Tisza. The Mártély landscape is perhaps the most beautiful region of the southern stretch of the Tisza: oxbow lakes, backwaters, wet meadows, reed beds, marshy, swampy areas are found here on the river’s widening floodplain. The wave zone spreading between the Tisza and the dikes formed during the regulation of the Tisza at the end of the 19th century. During the works, the necessary soil was excavated from numerous cubic pits, and as a result a floodplain landscape was created.

Characteristics

The landscape formed during river regulation has been protected since 1971, is listed in the Register of Internationally Significant Wild Waters, and in 1979 the landscape protection area was entered on the Ramsar Convention list. The protected area consists of three parts that differ greatly from each other. The northern area consists of the Mártély oxbow lake and Ányás Island, the noisiest part of the area. South of the oxbow lake lie Kutyafenék, then Körtvélyesi oxbow lake, and finally the Barci meadow.

Flora and Fauna

The vegetation cover of the landscape protection area is characterized by brush‑sedge marsh meadow, extensive stands of bulrush in the oxbow lakes, frog‑tadpole, marsh marigold, various frog‑soil types, water crowfoot, and a relatively rare frog‑lentil species. The drooping willow, grey and white alder mixed forests on higher ground, and occasional cultivated oaks recall a artificially shaped landscape.

Protected Fish Species

The fish fauna in the area is also very rich. So far the occurrence of 36 fish species has been confirmed.

smooth and the sturgeon (Acipenser nudiventris, A. güldenstaedti colchicus)

lamprey (Umbra krameri)

spined loach (Cobitis taenia)

stone loach (Misgurnis fossilis)

Zingel streber

Protected Bird Species

So far a total of 254 bird species have been recorded in the area, of which 112 species also breed.

nightingale (Luscinia megarhynchos),

greenfinch (Carduelis chloris)

blackcap (Sylvia articapilla)

blackbird (Turdus merula)

tawny owl (Strix aluco)

white-tailed eagle (Haliaetus albicilla)

red kite (Milvus migrans)

black stork (Ciconia nigra)

great egret (Egretta alba)

spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia)

grey heron (Ardea cinerea)

little egret (Egretta garzetta)

cattle egret (Nycticorax nycticorax).

In the less disturbed parts of the Mártély floodplain, wildcat and otter live. The most interesting representative of the spineless fauna is the iris.

Cultural values

The river provided livelihood opportunities for several thousand years and also settled this section of the Tisza. New Stone Age finds, an Avar period cemetery, remains of a Sarmatian settlement, an Árpád‑age cemetery and remains of a 14th‑15th century fishing village have been found here. The settlement after which the protected landscape area is named, Mártély, has long been a favourite place of painters. From the Hódmezővásárhely artists' colony János Tornyai, Béla Endre and György Kohán often visited. For decades a summer visual‑arts workshop camp has also operated on the water’s edge. In November 2005 the Hódmezővásárhely municipality inaugurated the “Floodplain educational trail”, which presents the natural values of the Mártély backwater.

External links

Website of the Kiskunság National Park

Website of the Kiskunság National Park – description of the Mártély protected landscape area

Map of the protected landscape area archived on August 22, 2011 in the Wayback Machine