Merzse-marsh Nature Reserve (also known as Merse-marsh, or Merzse Marsh) is a

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geologic ...

located at the eastern edge of

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

, close to the

Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport (, ) , formerly known as Budapest Ferihegy International Airport and commonly denoted as Ferihegy (), is the international airport serving the Hungarian capital city of Budapest. It is the largest of ...

. It is one of the most undisturbed wetlands in Budapest.

Location

The majority of the marsh lies in District XVII, close to Rákoskert neighborhood's trainstation. Even though it is located close to inhabited location, it is still not easily approachable as an about 15-minute hike is still required from the train station to reach the marsh. This likely explains why the marsh is still largely untouched.

Marsh

The marsh itself is a fairly large area however the protected territory is only about . Its area has been shrinking steadily since the early 19th century, and the water surface of the swamp today is only a few hundred square meters, a fraction of what was described in the eighties, which is also only a fraction of its original dimensions. This can be attributed to the general drought of recent decades as well as the transformation of the area and its surroundings (airport construction, construction of drainage ditches in agricultural areas, expansion of sewerage, which removed significant amounts of water from the catchment area). There were a few incidents in the past decade when the marsh couldn't regenerate itself. The marsh is home to a very wide variety of plants, fish and birds, which is unique to Budapest. Such plants are

Gymnadenia conopsea ''Gymnadenia conopsea'', commonly known as the fragrant orchid or chalk fragrant orchid, is a herbaceous plant of the family Orchidaceae native to northern Europe. Etymology The name of the genus ''Gymnadenia'' is formed from Greek words (', ...

or the

Cephalanthera longifolia ''Cephalanthera longifolia'', the narrow-leaved helleborine, sword-leaved helleborine or long-leaved helleborine, is a rhizome, rhizomatous herbaceous perennial plant in the family Orchidaceae. It is native to light woodland, and widespread acr ...

. Notable animals are the following:

european tree frog The European tree frog (''Hyla arborea'') is a small tree frog. As traditionally defined, it was found throughout much of Europe, Asia and northern Africa, but based on molecular genetic and other data several populations formerly included in it ...

Grey heron The grey heron (''Ardea cinerea'') is a long-legged wading bird of the heron family, Ardeidae, native throughout temperate Europe and Asia, and also parts of Africa. It is resident in much of its range, but some populations from the more norther ...

or the

Little grebe The little grebe (''Tachybaptus ruficollis''), also known as dabchick, is a member of the grebe family of water birds. The genus name is from Ancient Greek ''takhus'' "fast" and ''bapto'' "to sink under". The specific ''ruficollis'' is from Latin ...

References

{{coord, 47.450, 19.278, type:landmark_region:HU_dim:2000, display=title Protected areas of Hungary Nature reserves