Sárvíz-völgye Tájvédelmi Körzet

The area of the Sárvíz-völgye Landscape Protection Area is 3,616 hectares, of which 157 hectares are intensively protected. The Landscape Protection Area falls under the Directorate of the Danube–Ipoly National Park.

Location

The Sárvíz-völgye is a valley that extends from the foothills of the Bakony to the Szekszárd Hills – roughly northwest–southeast oriented – deepening toward the south, formed by sedimentation, whose watershed, with the Sárvíz stream in its axis, has drained the waters of a huge area and still partially directs them to a single area. This landscape was a continuous swampy, marshy region until the early twentieth century, which was only drained in the 1920s.

Formation

The Sárvíz-völgye is a terraced river valley that originated through erosion‑accumulation processes. Its relief is coloured by the high floodplain running‑sand forms and the loess‑filled erosion‑derosion land‑form mosaic covering the terrace. The Sárvíz-völgye developed in the depression of the lower Pleistocene ÉÉNY‑DDK river, and its present location was probably occupied during the Würm. As a result of tectonic movements and erosion, it collects the waters of a significant part of Transdanubia and has been shaped into a erosional‑terraced valley.

Characteristics

In the Sárvíz valley, former natural lakes have been transformed in several places into fishing ponds, so that, alongside the marshy associations, large open water surfaces have also been created, on which the grey and red heron, small and large bittern, bittern, and the comet heron breed in large numbers. The still wet, soggy – peat‑forming marshy areas are often interspersed with reed‑thicket patches and willow‑poplar riparian forests. The edges of the fishing ponds frequently have several‑tens‑of‑metres‑wide reed margins hosting numerous mixed heron colonies, while the islands within the ponds are inhabited by marsh harriers.

As a result of drainage, secondary salinization appeared, and saline meadows were formed. The characteristic associations of the area are similar to the sand-steppe associations of the Danube–Tisza region. These habitats still hide a multitude of valuable, protected plant species.

Flora and Fauna

In the Sárvíz Valley there are several smaller and larger saline lakes, surrounded by saline or salinizing meadows. In these areas the plant and bird life reminiscent of the lowland saline habitats lives. In addition to the typical saline plants of the valuable reed-salt-steppe meadows, the colorful saffron and several species of lady's‑mantle appear. Among the most valuable birds nesting on the salines are the gull‑winged sandpiper, red‑legged sandpiper, great snipe and little snipe. Between the saline patches of the Sárszentágó border and the remaining willow forests still live salt‑tolerant rush, marsh marigold, and several species of sedge.

The higher sandy parts are often only a few metres away from the marshy world; in such cases, from the drought‑tolerant plants of the sand‑steppe meadow one can see the wet marsh meadow sedges just a few steps away. In several places on the area the former meadow‑like smaller steppe‑meadow patches have survived, often with a very rich and valuable plant life, because on these small patches – for example near Aba – several sedge species bloom (most commonly knight’s‑blade, polosk‑scented and hare‑sedge).

In the Sárvíz valley, besides more than a hundred bird species, the area is regularly visited by meadow pipits, black storks, and fishing eiders also occur on the fishing ponds. During bird migration, the lakes and their surroundings are visited in numbers of several tens of thousands by breeding geese, great bustards, and various species of sandpipers. The smaller and larger forest patches in the area – alder, elm, ash and willow groves, oak woods – also provide habitat for the hazel grouse, blue tit, red tit and forest woodpecker – and along the Sárvíz the quite common one of the most beautiful native birds, the snipe, is also found.