Still kicking

It's over three months since I last posted so though nothing much has happened, I thought I'd better make the effort.  Still stunned by the single point victories of their last three games but it's all the Springboks needed to become World Champions for the fourth time.  Incredible.

For most of the time I have been laid low by this horrible thing called COPD.  Though incurable, treatment has got me to the point where I am able to breathe reasonably well and can just about manage a walk around the block.  Have been able to get out on occasion, once to the ever rewarding Marievale Bird Sanctuary where I found this gorgeous little black-winged kite searching for breakfast.

Not often that you find a common moorhen away from water but this one seemed to be having a fruitful time.

Always opportunistic, this ring-necked (Cape turtle) dove decided to make a nest in the top of a pole.

Aside from showy jacarandas, these trees that I'm sure I once knew the name of, were displaying their splendid yellow blossoms.

To break the Boksburg monotony I arranged a trip to Whiteriver to visit friends and get into Kruger.  On my first morning in the park I saw what I thought was a log lying in the middle of the road, but as I approached, the log rose and nonchalantly strolled off!  Naturally my camera started acting up so was forced to use my cell phone.......

........not bad though.  Such a magnificent specimen.....a cheetah if anyone is unsure, always a breath-taking sight.

Though there were, as always, many species of bird the lack of a camera meant the only other thing I could get a picture of was this superb kudu.

On a motorcycle ride to the northern suburbs, I came across Northcliff Hill where a small patch of rocky hillside has escaped development and is now a nature area and lookout point.  Johannesburg is not exactly beautiful but the tree-lined northern areas do provide relief from the concrete jungle.  Here looking north-east towards Randburg...................

............and here west towards Krugersdorp.

The removal of a couple of trees from my garden that were just a bit too much, necessitated a visit to a nursery to find some replacement shrubs.  What an eye-opener that was, it's probably 20 years since I last bought anything in the plant line and the prices blew my mind.  Couldn't resist these amazing petunias which now greet me every morning at my front door.

Had a hankering to visit Cullinan as the village looked very quaint and the history surrounding the finding of the world's biggest diamond was also a draw.  Found reasonable, self-catering accommodation on a game farm called Ma Tala Tala but the weather turned foul on my first morning there.  Decided to head for the village rather than take a walk and while it was every bit as quaint as I imagined all the interesting areas were closed as it was Monday. 

 Ah well back to the ranch for a walk that turned into a hike and nearly finished me off!  The rooms were well appointed...........

...............but quite why the camp was fenced in was a mystery as there was nothing dangerous on the farm. 

An outing to Reitvlei Nature Reserve near Pretoria turned interesting when I came out of a hide and met this fellow no more than 10 metres from the boardwalk.  Retired to the hide for a while but he was still grazing contentedly so snuck past with many a backward glance and made it safely to the bakkie.

Guess even birds have bad-hair days!  This is a long-tailed widowbird and he is moulting into his breeding finery after spending the winter looking very much like a female of the species.

At a river crossing this wattled lapwing was looking rather harassed, couldn't ascertain why though.

In the river a pair of yellow-billed ducks were doing the bottoms-up, dabbling routine......

.......and under a nearby willow a rhino was dozing, blissfully unaware of it's endangered status.  Not something you expect 30 kilometres from the centre of Pretoria.

Further on a male ostrich was doing everything in his power to persuade his lady friend to share his affections, which she eventually did - lucky fellow!

Not as plentiful as in some parts, but this vlei lily Crinum moorii (I think) was singularly splendid.

Also noticeable were the freshly dug burrows of what I believe to be springhares though at this time of day they would be asleep.

Also on parade were a handful of red hartebeest with their odd shaped horns.

 

KZN ramble

With a month or so to kill before the house-sit in Riebeek Kasteel, I decided to go walk-about in KZN.  The Beast was taken out of storage and set up for me on my favourite site at Hlalanathi.  The view in one direction is over the golf course and on to Oliviershoekpas about 30 km distant.

The other direction requires a little exercise to get to the edge of the cliff and from there, the Royal Natal NP, Amphitheatre and all the rest of the bells and whistles.

Found this massive cycad whose pod had split to reveal magical red seeds that were of interest to all manner of creepy crawlies.

A familiar call had me focussing on a white-fronted bee-eater whose palette of plumage colours would have any artist scrabbling for a brush.

A rather heraldic cloud formation over the Sentinel (the "Thumb"in the centre of the range) caught my attention while on an afternoon drive.............

......................while the late light turned the normally pink grass pearlescent.

Was having a read on afternoon when I heard all manner of weird noises emanating from the vicinity of my bakkie.  The culprits, a pair of ground-scraper thrushes, were fascinated by their reflections in the windscreen and mirror and were either trying to get these strangers out of their territory, or trying to persuade them to indulge in a bit of wife swapping!  It was most unfortunate that my camera was in the vehicle and this was the best the phone could provide.

Decided to try and stay a few nights at Midmar, which is a stupendous spot even though there are a few dodgy memories of wayward bakkies.  Chose the camp site furthest from anything and apart from the security chap was totally on my own.

Returning to camp after an early walk/drive, I turned off the main road and caught a fleeting glance of a serval who seconds earlier had been relaxing on the warm tar.  Probably one of the shyest cats on the planet this had bounded off into the mielie field in a flash.  Only the second time I've ever seen them in the wild, the fellow below was a guest at Emdoneni Cat Rehabilitation Centre when I last visited, which I've re-used just to show how beautiful they are.

There were mornings when it felt possible to stroll across the lake............

..............and evenings of such beauty as to make you wish you had someone to share them with.

Just down the south coast past Amazimtoti is the Karridene Hotel and Resort and as the caravan Park is large, well equipped and reasonable I dropped anchor for a week or so.  Happened to contact Wendy, as she is always keen to go birding and ended up being invited to a slap-up dinner with eight wonderful friends - many thanks Tanza, Neil and all contributors.

A report from the Rare Bird News site had me toddling off to the Amanzimtoti Bird Sanctuary where quite a crowd had gathered to locate something special.  Had a couple of false alarms in the form of Mountain Wagtails but eventually...............

......the very elegant grey wagtail took a bow and everyone wowwed.  My last sighting occurred in Betty's Bay in 1995 so it was almost a lifer.  Apologies for lack of quality but it was at the very limit of my range and though I tried many more times, never even got another glimpse.

Sure you wont mind a second (blurred) look!

Just around the corner is Winklespruit Beach where I was able to buy 8 large avocados for R30, amazing.

I was on my way back to Hlalanathi when the hand of doom landed on my shoulder.  I'd met up with Wendy and Mervyn to try and locate the wagtail and when that failed asked them back to camp for breakfast.  Whilst enjoying our repast Mervyn and I went over the things we'd left behind over the years and his story of mislaying the jockey wheel of his boat took the cake.  I was just outside Nottingham Road when doom reminded me I forgotten the jockey wheel at the campsite.  After a couple of false starts I eventually settled on an overnight stop at Midmar, then the hour and a half drive to Karridene which would hopefully see me back before dark.  A phone call to security confirmed that the wheel would be there when I arrived and even with all the roadworks I managed to toast my good fortune before sundown.  Ah the joys of travel!

With the Beast safely stowed at Hlalanathi, I headed back across the Freestate and into the perfect storm of my sister's dementia reaching a crescendo the day before I was due to fly.  Fortunately things were resolved and I slipped off the Cape where peace and tranquillity reigned at the Kings lovely home at the foot of the Swartberg.  The only slightly sour note is how much more of the countryside disappears under plastic netting every year.

Among other minor duties were the care and maintenance of this delightful trio, Storm - very loving and affectionate, especially around meal times...............

..............dear old Shadow, who for the most part takes his duties very seriously..................

..............and darling little looney Luna, a rescue pup who sports what is affectionately known as the "Township twirl" to her tail.

Most of my stay was dogged by a lack of breath and a hacking cough which eventually led to a 3 night stay in Paarl Medicentre, where they discovered covid amongst other horrible little bugs.  However even the view from the ward was special and Portia, the maid, did a splendid job in my absence.  Back in Boksburg but still haven't managed to shake the lurgy.

 

Boksburg se gat

 Was reading one of my previous rants where I went on about "Footbawler's" histrionics.  The other night Pete's daughter Kim came out with the perfect definition.  In football, players spent most of the time pretending they are hurt whereas in rugby they spent most of the time pretending they aren't!

Returning from Mokala, I decided to see how the Beast was faring so booked into Hlalanathi for three nights.  Spent most of the time clearing cobwebs and generally making the lady presentable, then promptly put her back in storage!  Did have the odd moment to indulge in things like a bit of a stroll and found these zinnias near the first tee on the golf course.  Almost as good as the west coast.

Found this red-knobbed coot on one of the water hazards........

.........and a small flock of black-throated canaries enjoying breakfast.  Then it was back to Boks.

When going through my bird photographs, I noticed that there were some really common things missing - hence a return trip to Marievale was necessary.  This fellow took a break from his spooning for long enough to get a decent shot and if the water had been a fraction calmer there would have been two of him.  Have to confess that I have no idea if it is a him or a her, so am probably being sexist.

If this isn't dead common etc!  Though named Egyptian goose, it's actually a member of the wood-duck family.  However it was large enough to be mistaken for a goose, though if you think of a farmyard goose there is no real similarity or am I being pedantic?

A reed cormorant drying it's wings - another fallacy they are perfectly capable of flying with wet wings.  It's more likely using the sun to warm it's tum which is actually an aid to digesting cold fish......

......and something I've been trying to gets for ages.  A magnificent long-tailed widow-bird doing his glorious display.

How are these for ag shames, a pair of white-throated swallows who have a nest inside one of the hides.  On a Natal Bird Experience that I was leading, a lady guest came up with the idea of deciding which bird you would choose to be if you were reincarnated.  I immediately had a vivid memory of a pair of these birds in the magical Msikaba Gorge on the Wild-coast.  Still can't imagine anything more perfect.

For a bird of a different stripe. O R Tambo Airport is just down the road and on my morning walks I've often seen this enormous lady coming into land.  The A380, which I shall be boarding in mid-July to visit friends and family in jolly old England.

Autumn is cosmos time and you tend to forget that they are classed as noxious weeds when you see whole fields of them.

There's an old quarry out Klipriviers (no it's not a typo that's an Afrikaans river!) way which I always stop at when out there on the bike.  It was absolutely chock full of birds the other day but they started to get twitchy as I approached.  Of the 3 duck species I only managed to get a shot of a red-billed teal........

............and a spur-winged goose - actually another duck.  These are big birds and when about a hundred of them took to the air it sounded like an airport.

Took a tootle out to Vaal Dam, which was spilling the last time I came but it has dropped a tad since.  

There were lots of white-breasted cormorants sunning themselves on rocks in the river which would indicate there are still fish about after the floods.

Downstream, the sun was reflected prettily where the water was disturbed by a rapid.

Carrying on around the dam which still covers an enormous area I came upon Vaal Marina which I assumed was a resort but it's actually a town spread out over many kilometres of shoreline.

A regional rarity has started popping up in various places , the one being Reitvlei Dam which I visited one morning but as I was going through the gate I realised that something was missing.  Binoculars and camera, still on the spare bed in my room!  Another attack of  "oldtimer's disease" and to make matters worse I couldn't find the bird.

A report came in of another appearance at Suikerbos NR, so off I went having carefully put the car keys on top of my backpack as a mental spur but still didn't manage to find the critters. There was interest in the form of mountain wheatears by the dozen, they feature black, white and grey plumage in a dizzying array, here mainly grey........

..............and here a bit of each.

Next a large herd of eland, at least 50 strong but not much else in the way of herbivores.

Three little Namaqua doves were a bit of a surprise this being the female who was being more or less continually harried by a pair of suitors, though she was far more interested in breakfast.

A small group of spike-heeled larks practically demanded an audience while chattering incessantly among themselves.

Only caught sight of this magnificent beast seconds before running it over, but managed to swerve in time.  Approaching on foot, I was only a metre away when I took this shot and assumed that it had been run over by someone else as it didn't budge.  But as I turned to go it came to it's senses and started to "walk" away on rippling ribs.  A puffadder in glorious technicolour of a newly shed skin.  It must have been dozing in the sunshine, but it's difficult to tell as they don't have eyelids!