Gödöllő Hills Landscape Protection Area

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The hill-country of northwest-southeast direction of the Gödöllői-dombvidék stretches from Vác and from the southwest border of the Cserhát as far as Albertirsa, to the Tápió-vidék. The specialty of the hill-country is that it works as a watershed of east-west direction, in the west of it watercourses flow into the Danube, while in the east of it they flow into the Tisza.

Diversified superficial forms can be observed on the loess hills – they are characterized by steep hillsides and deep, narrow valleys, flat hill ridges at other places divided by wide valleys, sandy, steppe habitats and marshy, moorish valleys. The orientation of the areas can be fairly varied, there are vast hillsides of northerly exposure, as well as wider valleys of east-west exposure, ranges of hills of north-south direction and narrow, cool valleys open to the north. Owing to this unparalleled diversity the hill-country provides varied conditions for habitats, although concerning its height it is relatively uniform as it is constituted of one to two hundred metre high hills.

The survival of the rich and variegated flora and fauna, the little evocative inner valleys, the heart-warming places with stagnant water is due to the fact that the area being close to the capital has been recreation area and hunting-ground of those in power for centuries. This area was already a game preserve in the King Mátyás era, later together with the Gödöllő palace it became the property of King Ferenc József, and even recently it was reserved for government officials.

The fauna of the government hunting ground closed for a long time – certain areas are still fenced – is very rich, too. Besides the outstandingly valuable stock of big game - roe-deer, deer, wild-boar – wild cats, otters, pine-martens and beech martens also live in the area. The avifauna is also rich: the bee-eater, the black woodpecker, the green woodpecker are common to hatch, but the kingfisher, the honey buzzard, the hobby also hatch and the saker falcon can also be sighted. The value of the avifauna is further increased by the fact that nesting of the very rare scarlet grosbeak is also proved.

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