Marshpepper Park

IN HUNGARIAN

Thus, as we approach November, the Égető island at Vác displays a picture of hopeless desolation. It is like an overgrown castle park under a gloomy sky, where the summer sunshine on the Danube has flown away as quickly as the once open water has been conquered by waist-high marshpepper. 

Marshpepper, the terror of grazing animals.

13 years ago, it was still possible to walk from the lower estuary to the dam in the adjacent branch of the Égető island. You needed wellingtons, though, because the wide muddy, watery bed was quite marshy. Since then, vegetation has completely taken over the dry riverbed, but even in recent times it was possible to walk through in the ankle-deep vegetation, interrupted in some places by patches of willow groves. By 2022, the situation had changed dramatically, with waist-high Persicaria hydropiper invading all but a few lower-lying open sections. 

The Marshpepper is an annual herb, but its seeds, which sprout at the end of October, will ensure a supply next year. Its own safety is guaranteed by the active ingredients (acids and essential oils) in its shoots; if consumed by grazing animals, it can cause intestinal inflammation and skin irritation. Its deep roots trap floodplain sediments, and its decaying stems further increase the organic matter content of the soil, providing a bed for successive plants. As of 2022, they completely cover the surface of the riverbed, wild boars no longer penetrate its rows, only the open areas concentrated in the three remaining watery depressions. The succession of the Égető branch is taking place at a rapid pace, before our very eyes, and the removal of the concrete dam blocking the branch is unlikely to reverse this process. Unless some drastic action is taken, such as dredging up the riverbed, we will find a willow forest here in 10 to 20 years. 

The southern tip of the Égető island (on the right)

Like a closing eye, vegetation closes around the remaining water surfaces.

The riverbed at 32 centimeters at the Váci gauge.
The water level in the main branch of the Danube is much lower.

Settlers, hungry for land waiting for the last reservations.

Traces of wild boars covered with water.

In most cases, it is no longer possible to tell from the picture where the riverbed ends and the island begins.

Horror vacui

In a few years, the willow soldiers of the eastern and western fronts will shake hands here.

I am just a spectator / An advocate documenting the loss, as an educated Swede would write while wandering in this Marshpepper Park. The Danube Islands blog has no other option but to follow the developments and present it to a wider audience. After all, this is how the landscape along the Danube is transformed, whether by embankment, damming or other human intervention. In such cases, nature can do no more than rush after the events, hoping to reach a state of near equilibrium, where these changes take place over centuries or millennia, rather than decades. 

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

The southern tip of the Égető Island

IN HUNGARIAN

A pile of wood, some planks, a cyclist on a beach, a boat and the Naszály mountain in the background are the backdrop to the Égető Island in 1941 I stumbled across on Fortepan. The island is still an island here, and anyone cycling by today would not recognise the landscape, if only because the southern tip of the island, which is visible in the picture, is no longer there, if it is still an island tip at all.

Égető Island, 1941 (Fortepan 128884)

In the southern part of Vác, next to the cycle path along the Danube, you will find the Égető Island, a quite unknown Danubian island. A similarly old but undated picture of the northern tip of the island has also came to light, which differs from the southern tip in that it is still in roughly the same place. In 1941, the narrow island consisted of just one row of trees, and the keenest eye could tell you exactly how many there were. 

Anyone looking for the island's contours is in for a rough ride these days. The Égető Island gradually merged with the coast, and walking along the main branch you can easily pass the inconspicuous north and south inlets. The oxbow is narrowed, with standing water for most of the year and drying up completely during low water periods. 

The development of the Égető-sziget: (Blue line: Old Danube riverbeds, yellow line:  flood-free zone, red line: current shoreline)

 The southern tip of the island, visible in the initial image, is now hidden in the interior of the island. Today, when the water still flows in the oxbow (mostly during floods), it flows back into the main branch 300-350 meters to the south. The width of a single row of trees has also increased several times. There are no longer any beachgoers in this stretch, the floodplain forest and undergrowth has slowly pushed them away from the shore. The oxbow has become silted up, the level of the riverbed is higher today than it was three quarters of a century ago.

The oxbow of the Égető Island (on the left) in 2016.

The 1941 photograph captures a young Égető Island for posterity. It is as if we are seeing our grandparents smiling in their youth...

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)