Kiskőrös Swamp

Area: 550 ha

Legal declaration by Decree No. 7/1990. KVM

Biogeographic region: Turján-vidék

This large nature reserve was created by merging two smaller ones. The sandy subsoil of the area is covered by peat deposits of various depth. The swamp forests may seem to contain logging water but the water is supplied by seeping groundwater and streams slowly towards the Danube Valley. The characteristic ash-alder swamp forests look like subtropical wooded swamps, as they are thick and dark. The water among the trees is inhabited by aquatic plants, such as the spectacular Water Violet. The original vegetation of higher areas that are never inundated may have been oak-ash-elm forest and the Pedunculate Oak forest with Lily-of-the-valley; however, only some small fragments of these forests have remained, mostly in the Szücsi Forest of Kiskőrös.

Some water-logged sites are inhabited by tall sedge stands. Since these graminoids were rarely mowed, several rare species could survive among them, such as Greater Spearwort, Longleaf Speedwell, Fen Ragwort, Bogbean, Skirret and Northern Water Hemlock.