Erd?bénye Wooded Pasture - Bükki NP (sitios de interés)
Descripción del sitio
| Year of preservation: 1990 Area: 195.6 hectares This pasture-land at the north-eastern piedmont of the Szokolya at Erd?bénye with patulous sparse trees of former closed oak forests has been transformed in order to gain pasture-lands and to oak-mast. The staddles provided shelter, against the glaring sunshine at summer, for grazing and oak-masted animals as well as for humans watching over the animals. The maintenance of grasslands was provided by continuous grazing that prevented the area from reforestation. In the past decades, along with the withdrawal of extensive pasturing, regular grazing has also ceased. Wooded pasture-lands represent landscape mementos of a medieval farming method that has remained only in some locations, thus their cultural historical significance is outstanding.  The wooded pasture-land of oak-trees with dense foliage has a picturesque landscape atmosphere. This is partly due to the fact that staddles grew standing alone, therefore – as receiving sunlight from all directions – their foliage is more even and patulous compared to those growing in the forest. The fauna of the area is primarily connected to the old trees and mosaic-like habitats. On the patulous trees one can often see birds of prey nesting in the forests of the surrounding areas, such as buzzard (Buteo buteo), regularly visiting this area for feeding. The decaying old trees provide ideal habitat for hole-dweller birds (e.g. woodpeckers – Picidae, titmice – Paridae), small-bodied mammals (e.g. graphiures – Gliss briss., bats – Chiroptera) and insects (e.g. stag-beetles – Lucanus cervus, rhinoceros beetle – Oryctes nasicornis, great Capricorn beetle – Cerambyx cerdo). Habitats formed as a result of human activity, such as the wooded pasture-land of Erd?bénye, can exist in long-term only by continuous human activity. Unfortunately, at the wooded pasture-land at the piedmont of Szokolya – as in most habitats of similar type of the country – by the confining of extensive pasturing in the past decades, regular grazing has ceased and, as a result, scrubbing and reforestation of the open grassland has started. An important task of nature conservation is the preservation of such wooded pasture-lands abundant in natural and landscape values. Today, a part of the area is pastured again– within a framework of cooperation with the nature conservation manager of the area, i.e. the Bükk National Park Directorate. credit |