Met up with a couple of local birders who wanted to go to Seeberg to find a rare plover and though I'd seen it and photographed it before, I went along for the ride as there was also a Tibetan sand plover hanging around that I wasn't sure was on my list - name changes are a pain. There were several red knots in the melee as well and these two were well on their way to breeding plumage,,,,,,,,
Must say I had totally forgotten about the turnstones existence and had to a bit of searching, pardon the focus the wind was howling.
Looking for a tiny plover in amongst this lot requires persistence and I eventually had to resort to coercing a much younger pair of eyes attached to a telescope to find the thing. It was far too distant to get a picture but the little white blob in the foreground on the left is what I was after, too bad I'd already seen it before when it was just a lesser sand plover!
This is the Seeberg hide which is a double decker affair and the top deck was pretty crowded with photographers trying for the other plover which wasn't playing ball either.
Got back to find a UFO trying to land on the Swartberg!
Decided to visit the Dasklip Pass again but simply had to stop and get a shot of Liemietberg, over which Bains built his wonderful pass.
Dasklip was being utilised by up to eight paragliders and a pair of jackal buzzards were showing them how it's done.
Wanted to get to Katbakkies to catch up with a few Karoo specials but the road from Ceres was being redone and there were endless delays at stop/go points which didn't improve my humour, so I ran out of time before getting there. Did notice this phenomenon at one of them, sunlight shining through the glass insulators and the dark background accentuating the glow.
Did find a couple of black-necked grebes on a farm dam. Though not in their majestic breeding plumage, the bright red eye is diagnostic.
While trying (unsuccessfully) to get a decent picture of the grebes a lark landed nearby and I had better luck with what is now called a large-billed lark...........
...................not quite sure what the cause of the obvious consternation was, but it kept a low profile for a while.
Someone in the Karoo has a really good sense of humour the sign says "Beachfront property for sale, occupation 2050" and in small letters at the bottom, Global Warming Properties, Tankwa! That's a fibreglass sailing dingy on top but have no idea what the building is for as there is nothing else for miles around.
Whilst trying to locate what would have been a lifer, I disturbed a pair of rufous-eared warblers and this very irate little fellow was not amused. Always great to catch up with something you haven't seen for ages.
Was driving back from Durbanville one day when I noticed this mountain with three peaks which must be close to Stellenbosch and has previously always escaped my attention. Tried to find a name for it without success.
Have always been impressed by the copious flowering Nuxias, but this one which is now in the neighbours garden was really living to the floribunda part of it's moniker.
The final fling on the bike involved the Franschoek Pass which was affected by last year's floods but has been reopened with diversions. Looking back on the town from near the top gives an inkling of how special the area is.
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Needed relief so made for some young trees on the side of the road and while engaged found something extraordinary that I've never seen before. What I assumed was a wattle had two different types of leaf growing on it, both compound and simple. Consulting the great botanical oracle that manifests itself to me as Richard Boon, I was informed of the following. "Several wattle species that have phyllodes that act as leaves in mature plants, retain the twice compound leaf form when they are young. What you have is a plant transitioning from juvenile to adult form." So there!
Now and then the Swartberg seems to have caught fire..............
............and the night the kings arrived back a full moon rose over the Liemietberg.
