Being a "Bergie"

Next move was to Wagendrift Dam, which was completely new ground.  Passed it many times but have never been into the campsite. The N3 runs just below the wall and there's usually a huge rooster tail of water belching from the base.  Arriving on Sunday I soon had the entire place to myself and apart from a couple of very determined fisherman, it stayed that way for four nights.  Determined in that they were glued to their chairs for 48 hours, without any camping gear so assume if they slept at all, it was in the car.  Picked a site under large plane trees with a view towards the wall one way...........

........and towards the mouth of the Bushman's River in the other.  Rather splendid.

Unexpected visitors were a pair of elegant Black-winged plovers - Black-winged lapwings sounds so lame!

The second night while partaking of a beverage on the "patio" a little sliver of new moon crept over the horizon and painted a path across the water.

Out walking one morning I noticed some activity around the pole of an 11 kV line and closer inspection revealed a red-throated wryneck obviously feeding chicks secreted in the nest cavity.  That hole must have taken some excavating by these close relatives of woodpeckers.

Where the river enters the top end of this extensive dam is another reserve called Moor Park which is mostly inaccessible but has a lot more in the way of animals.

On the way down to the picnic site found a lovely Natal bottlebrush Greyia sutherlandii in stunning bloom.............

..................and underneath it a very smart species of ground orchid which may be Eulophia ovalis.

Next stop was Mountain Splendour in the Champagne valley with a magnificent view of Cathkin Peak as a backdrop.

On another snap visit to Boksburg I stopped at the view point at the top of Oliviershoek Pass and was struck by the very different colours of Kilburn Dam in the foreground and Woodstock in the hazy distance. 

The reason was soon apparent as Sterkfontein was so full from the recent snowfalls that water was backfilling Driekloof Dam which supplies the pumped storage scheme, so water from Woodstock wasn't required.  This was further confirmed a few days later when on a shopping trip to Berville, I noticed that the canal between the Woodstock and Kilburn was totally dry.

A few days later I visited the Monk's Cowl section of the massive Ukhahlamba Drakensberg National Park and bumped into a very obliging female Cape batis who was more intent on preening than worrying about me.

Also found some Southern shell-flower trees Bowkeria verticillata in bloom but unfortunately it was too early and the flowers ween't open.

The gigantic massif of Champagne Castle tends to make one feel rather insignificant.

On an Atlassing sortee to a nearby valley I came across a group of canary-like birds that required some serious sleuthing to eventually work out that they were female and juvenile black-throated canaries.  Where's the black throat? Look veeerrrry carefully!

One of the very few places where white-winged flufftails occur is in the reserve surrounding the Ingula pumped storage scheme near Ladysmith and as Birdlife Midlands had organised an outing there, I decided to go - though the chance of seeing this mythical beast was zero.  The reserve is mainly grassland with scattered wetland patches but the wind was howling so hard that there was very little to see and nothing to hear.  Beautiful part of the country nevertheless.

Took a drive to Cathedral Peak and Didima and found this interesting creature eyeing out weaver nests for breakfast.  The African harrier hawk or gymnogene specialises in raiding nests and has a specially adapted leg joint that enables it to hook out eggs and chicks from virtually anywhere.  The apparent crest is caused by the wind ruffling it's neck feathers and the bare facial skin turns pink when the bird is excited.

Always a pleasure to see bald ibis and this one was wandering around a water feature at Didima Camp.

Ever onwards to Hlananathi near the Royal Natal and a magical view from the camp towards the Amphitheatre.

On my first walk found a recently burned area that was smothered in little bushes of the Berg barleria, Barleria monticola and they, in turn, were pasted with dozens of their delicate blue blooms.

While strolling through the grassland I became aware of a lot of spitting and hissing coming from the region around my feet and looking down found that I'd almost trodden on a little night adder and it was livid.  I only had my phone with me so tried pointing in the general direction and snapped off a few shots blind, as the sun made viewing the screen impossible.  Well it wasn't happy about that either and was now hissing and striking viciously at any approach.  Guess when you're only 300 mm long you have to have a lot of attitude to survive.  I backed off and sent the pics to my computer, then the hunt was on.  I blew them up as much as possible and methodically searched and eventually - bingo.  It's actually coiling back to launch another strike, not the greatest picture but look at those beautiful markings.

Went shopping in Bergville and decided to come home via Woodstock Dam and found the most of the roadside paperbark acacias A. sieberiana were covered in little cream balls. And I still refuse to acknowledge Vachellia!

As mentioned before Woodstock is one of the feeders for the Drakensberg Pumped Storage Scheme and is actually a fairly impressive size.

On one of the branches a bridge gets you to the other side...........

...........and under the bridge - a substantial colony of South African cliff swallows, which was a hive of activity.

When I arrived on site a resident pair of greater striped swallows showed an enormous amount of interest in the van and on several occasions have actually flown inside when I was lying down. Seemed to rather like the toaster but unfortunately was only able to get a shot of one perched on the door.  Have been hearing a totally unrecognisable call in these parts for a while now and it's source was finally traced to these guys.  It's a long, high pitched and drawn out weeeeoooow that was not mentioned in any of my books.  Eventually located it on the Sasol app. but I'm sure this is a new addition to their repertoire as I've had lots of dealings with them going back 30 years and have never come across it before.

Zipped into the next valley to do an Atlas card and found a place I last visited nearly 40 years ago The Cavern Resort with this as the backdrop.

Also took a stroll around Rugged Glen, which is slightly closer to the magnificent Amphitheatre.

Must have got too close to a pair of Levaillant's cisticolas nest as they became very agitated and started swearing at me. They have something in common with black mambas in that when they open their mouths all you see is a black maw, but luckily no fangs.