Natural values
Natural values

Budaörs is situated at the southern edge of the Buda Hills, in the basin bearing the name of the settlement. Along the northern side of the basin, in three parallel ridges, there are dolomite hills of peculiar atmosphere: the Budaörsi-kopárok (Kô-hegy, Odvas-hegy, Út-hegy), the Csiki-hegyek and the Törökugrató. These unique natural values belong to the Buda Nature Preservation Area. In terms of formation, this mountain is a fault-block mountain, that is, its peaks and depressions were created by vertical movements along fault lines. Peaks limited on each side by fault lines - like the mountains around Budaörs - are called fault peaks. The dolomite constituting the fells is the oldest sediment of the Buda Hills. In the late Triassic period (240-210 million years ago) the sea lime ooze depositing on the shore plains and shallow edges of the Thetys Ocean was turned into dolomite in the then dominating dry climate. During trips, one can discover petrified remains of animals and prints of plant parts in abandoned quarries. Thermal springs used to be near fault lines, which formed the dolomite in a characteristic way: the dolomite turned reddish at certain places. Also, these former thermal springs formed caves and caverns in the area of the Buda Hills such as the caves on top of Kő-hegy. The rich fauna of the Budaörs hills is the result of geological changes of several million years. The shallow, dolomite debris soil, continuously slacking and sliding down, could not provide adequate conditions for forests to be created even during the period of warming following the ice age. For this reason, these dolomite „fells" are islands that enabled numerous plants widely spread in former periods with climates totally different from our present climate to survive. The majority of rainwater pour down the steep slopes full of debris and therefore sub-Mediterranean and continental species tolerating dryness play an important role in the composition of vegetation. Formerly, hill tops featured karst bush forests and dry lawn while hill feet featured forests of oak that liked lime and young trees at their edges. However, following human settlement, closed forest areas slowly disappeared and orchards and vineyards began to dominate around the settlement during past centuries. We can observe a form of peculiar formation of the nature in artificially planted Australian pine forests (Nap-hegy, Tűzkő-hegy, Út-hegy, Huszonnégyökröshegy), where - due to slowly disintegrating coniferous leaves - undergrowth is almost completely missing and fauna is much poorer as well. These Australian pine trees with dark foliage are not indigenous and old trees can easily dry or die on the shallow soil in dry years, to be replaced again by bushes and gradually renewing deciduous forests. On dolomite rock lawns, surviving almost untouched on hill tops, a special form of life was created by plants living here that tolerate dryness and like lime: in such a tiny area as Törökugrató, you can discover 22 protected plant species during a walk. In spring, hill slopes change colour every day since violet actinia and bright yellow pheasant's eye are followed by yellow, blue and white irises, then purple thyme and pink dwarf almond and, finally, summer is greeted by silvery feather-grass. In summer, dark violet start-thistle, blue cuckoo-pint, gold klamath weed, modest blood-wort and immortelle grow high. In autumn, thorny bushes are worth a visit because berries of hedge-thorn, rose-hip, barberry and spindle-tree are well visible even from a distance but the sight of the foliage of gold maple trees and purple Hungarian fustic also drives gloomy thought away. The fauna of dolomite fells is not so rich as that of deciduous forests but a number of very rare species are related to special vegetation such as the most famous zoological value of Törökugrató and Kő-hegy, the Coluber Caspius and the European copper skink. During trips, it is worthwhile to listen to woodlarks and hoopoes sing but one can meet common buzzards, common kestrel, goshawk, fox and beech marten as well.