Beautiful winter birding in Bükk Hills, Hungary

Last weekend I got to spend a wonderful day out in the Bükk Hills National Park (Bükki Nemzeti Park) in eastern Hungary. Snowfall overnight had coated the entire area in fluffy white powder, and the clouds had parted to make for absolutely stunning light and beautiful dappled colours pouring through the woodland.

and later in the afternoon, a warmer light flushed everything orange

There's a Black Woodpecker (Dryocopus martius) somewhere up there

Looking for Ural Owl (Strix uralensis)

The Grey-headed Woodpeckers (Picus canus) were really vocal and responded really quickly to a whistled call, with two flying directly over to settle in the woodland on the other side of the valley.

An open meadow with a wonderful view over the hazy forests. Grey-headed and Black Woodpeckers are calling in the background (you just need to listen carefully)

But without a doubt, the absolute coolest thing of the day (year?) was a European Wildcat (Felis silvestris silvestris) that moved in to the road ahead of us and slowly wandered across the road, looking back at us once or twice. It was absolutely huge, considerably larger and bushier than the Southern African Wildcats (Felis silvestris cafra) and on top of that, it had this massively fluffy tail, more like a fox’s than a cat’s tail.

Here is a documentary video I found on the Bükk Hills; I have no idea what they are saying, but the images are fantastic.

All in all, a wonderful day out in the snow!

Happy birding,

Dale Forbes