Bastard indigo bushes and a ton of bat droppings
[21.03.2022-26.03.2022]
There have been and will be many days when we sit in the office doing research work on various topics, creating summaries and overviews, or even scanning book excerpts from time to time. However, we want to dedicate our blog entries especially to the activities outside.
Thus we were in the last week among other things in the proximity of Tiszabábolna. Here, bastard indigo shrubs (Amorpha fruticosa) had to be cut in a swampy area, transported to the edge of the swampy area and from there across a grassy area to a chipping machine. These shrubs are again an invasive species. This one comes from China and spreads aggressively and very quickly. Thus, the quality of the ecosystem deteriorates and native plants are displaced.
On another day we were in the reformed church of Bánhorváti to clean it from bat droppings. About three hundred bats live in the beams of the church, including lesser horseshoe bats and greater mouse-eared bats. Since the National Park is committed to ensuring that these animals can continue to use the habitat in the church, they are also responsible for removing the droppings. There are several buildings where this needs to be done and takes place at about a three year interval. During this time, about a ton of droppings accumulated, which we had to shovel into bags and carry down the steep stairs from the attic. After several hours of hard work and about 80 bags of droppings, we were finally done and pretty exhausted.
Saturday was a normal work day, as this day off was moved to March 14 to allow for an extended weekend. This we spent again collecting garbage.
