Getting things back together

The surgery to remove the cataracts over (thanks Giles), it was time to head back to Boksburg.  Decided to use Hlalanathi to store the Beast as their rates are good and it is so beautiful that I stayed for three nights before heading off.  Just outside the gate the hillside was swathed in this tassel topped grass.....

...... and the Natal bottlebrush Greyia sutherlandii growing near reception was in prolific and magnificent flower.

A wash away due to the floods has left only one access to Royal Natal and the Amphitheatre via Rugged Glen and in places the roadside was lined with Natal red top grass, which is more pink than red.

In one spot there were also patches of  a tiny helicrysum with attractive grey leaves that combined rather well with the pink, Bishop's Art Appreciation 101.

Back in Boksburg, Pete was kind enough to lend me a camera which enabled me to get a picture of Little black-nose who is still a little wild but is gradually taking over the house.  His 14 or so family and friends have all been trapped and rehomed but he evaded capture and now rules the roost.

 

The resident Karoo thrushes were busy rearing a very demanding chick and one of them took refuge in the tree outside my window for a well earned rest.

As the cost of diesel is off the chart, I am using the bike more and more as is has exceptional consumption and petrol is slightly cheaper.  Took a ride out to some ponds I found on a previous visit near Kliprivier and managed to get a rather a good shot of a Golden bishop, which looks like and overgrown bumblebee......

.......and the ubiquitous yellow-billed duck, common but pretty.

Just outside the front door of the cottage is this hibiscus which I thought could only be described as a blooming marvel.

Another day, another ride I ended up at Zoo Lake where swarms of little brown-veined white butterflies were on their annual migration and only just visible in this shot.

Fortunately a lot of them were picking up nutrients so I was able to get a close-up of one of them.

I took my camera into the agents to get them to certify that it was a write off so that I could claim on insurance.  Two days later they phoned and asked what was wrong with it!  Seems it rectified it's own problem so I suggested that they service it and check that everything was working and a couple of days later I was back in business.  Went out to Marievale to check and here are the results, one of my personal favourites a white-throated swallow........

........and it's mate with material to add to the nest inside the hide.

A three-banded plover fossicking in the mud............

.........while a squacco heron imperiously surveys the scene.............

............and a Levaillant's cisticola scolding me for encroaching on it's territory.

This southern masked weaver was still in eclipse plumage but that didn't deter him from preparing a new nest site

A rather elegant fulvous whistling duck was sunning itself on a bank.......

..............and one of the many long-tailed widows was begging to be immortalised.  Well the camera is fine but I'm still waiting for the binoculars to be repaired in Austria and hopefully there will be more content in the next edition.