Pusztaszer

Gull colony on Korom Island at Lake Fehér

Pusztaszer

  • Country: 
    Hungary
  • Site number: 
    188
  • Area: 
    5,086 ha
  • Designation date: 
    11-04-1979
  • Coordinates: 
    46°27'N 20°05'E
Materials presented on this website, particularly maps and territorial information, are as-is and as-available based on available data and do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the Ramsar Convention concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

Overview

Pusztaszer is composed of four separate areas, including tree-dominated floodplains and oxbow lakes of the river Tisza, fishponds, temporarily flooded sodic marshes and sodic-alkaline pans. Located along an important bird migration route in the Tisza river valley, the Site supports over 20,000 waterbirds, as a resting, feeding and breeding site. Internationally threatened waterbirds and other species can be found including the red-breasted goose (Branta ruficollis), the saker falcon (Falco cherrug) and the European ground squirrel (Spermophilus citellus). The Site plays an important role in the retention and storage of inland water and regulation of groundwater levels. Nonetheless there are major seasonal and annual fluctuations in water levels, which dictate the prevalence of the sodic-alkaline wetland habitat structures. Land use is mainly dedicated to grassland agriculture, forestry and fish farming, and increased nutrient inflows from this agriculture and aquaculture are the biggest threats, along with river regulation and invasion by alien species including the Russian olive (Eleagnus angustifolia). There is a biodiversity research and bird monitoring programme.

Administrative region: 
County Csongrád-Csanád

  • National legal designation: 
    • Site of Community Importance (pSCI)
    • landscape protection area - Pusztaszer
  • Regional (international) legal designations: 
    • EU Natura 2000
  • Last publication date: 
    11-11-2021