Siroki Nyírjes-Tó Protected Area

The Siroki Nyírjes-tó is a nationally significant, nature-protected peat bog located in the outskirts of the village of Sirok. It was discovered in 1957, and in the same year scientific research began, the results of which led to its designation as protected in 1961. The Nyírjes-tó nature reserve, covering about 22 hectares, also includes peat-bog and willow-bog habitats,

Description

It formed in a closed basin on the northeastern slope of Darnó Hill in the Matra region, on a base of rhyolitic tuff, creating a marsh lake that extends from northeast to southwest within a oak‑ash forest. It was discovered by Imre Máthé and Margit Kovács, who concluded that the area exhibits the characteristics of transitional peat bogs. The dominant peat moss species are among the less demanding species regarding soil acidity—such as Sphagnum palustre and Sphagnum recurvum—but besides the mosses, reed and sedge also played a large role in peat formation.

Four additional peat moss species occur in the area: Sphagnum fimbriatum, S. magellanicum, S. squarrosum and S. subsecendum. Typical plant species also include forest willow, water moss willow, ash willow, twig willow, yellow marsh marigold, spear reed tip and meadow rush. Characteristic marsh plants in the area are the protected hairy birch and the leguminous cotton‑grass; a botanical curiosity among the local flora is the cotton‑seeded sedge and the round‑leafed moss grass.

Since its discovery, the botanical condition of the lake and its immediate surroundings has deteriorated considerably; reed and reed tip have colonized many areas compared with the vegetation map made in 1958, at the expense of the far more valuable transitional marsh complex.

The fauna of the lake has not yet been fully uncovered, although it has a rich snail and bivalve fauna, and numerous extinct snail species that lived here in earlier geological periods have been identified. Among higher animal species the area has no unique species; the insects and vertebrates found here mostly originate from the surrounding oak forests. The characteristic insect of the lakeside birch groves is the birch blue butterfly, and on the willows lives a small hairstreak butterfly. Species from the area’s butterfly fauna that also appear in the Red Book are the daytime peacock butterfly, the sword-tailed butterfly and the swallow-tailed butterfly.

Access

The nature reserve, situated at an altitude of 280 metres above sea level, is easily reachable from the blue tourist sign that passes through the village of Sirok, from where one must turn off onto the blue‑plus marked trail that starts beside the nature‑protection sign, and after about 1 kilometre of walking from the main road one can reach the lake. It can be visited on foot freely, but it is advisable to coordinate with the Bükki National Park Directorate, the managing authority of the area, before the visit.