Author: martintayler

We had two nights in the seaside resort of Swakopmund and on Sunday, whilst the younger members of our group went off and did fun activities such as sky diving (I think I wait for my hundredth birthday for that) we recharged our batteries by strolling  along the beach and watching a few birds, mainly  cormorants and gulls, and observing others doing more adventurous water sports.

Kelp Gull

Hartlaub Gull

Although we were warned that it could be cloudy and fresh here we both managed to catch rather too much sun.

Typical seaside activities

In the evening we had a visit to a local township. Although we have visited Africa several times we have never felt inclined to do this, seeing it as rather voyeuristic. However,  we had confidence in the ethical  values of our tour company National Geographic G- Adventures and the reassurances of our guide, Julian, that we went along with it. It was, in the end, a very enjoyable experience, with a visit to a local market and to the home of a member of the Herero tribe; a lesson in the local click language from a women at an orphan centre; a visit to a local hostelry followed by meal of local foods at a restaurant in the township. The main reason for including this in my nature blog is that I did attempt the dish of caterpillars, some of which we had  seen earlier at the local market.

Dried fish at the township market

Bags of caterpillars

 

Click below for gallery of today’s photos:

 

With another early start we found ourselves having breakfast shortly after 6 a.m. eating once again al fresco in shorts and short sleeve shirts but glad that it was a little cooler. I was a little concerned about the lengthy journey back north to Swakopmund on the west coast of Namibia but in the end I had no reason to worry as it was a very eventful day.

First we had a good coffee stop at the quaint little town of Solitaire.

Then the most wonderful stop in the countryside where a local man took us out into the desert and told us about how animals and bushman survived in the desert. I cannot praise this visit enough.

The visit was entertaining and informative and the local man used the most amazing pedagogical techniques which would have put any superstar tv production to shame. I certainly now know that the worst thing that can happen to the desert is lots of rain.

Springbok

Oryx

Oryx

Oryx

Zebra

Our driver Immanuel again manoeuvred through the ruts of the gravel road at high speed to ensure we had a safe, smooth and swift journey to the coast and that we did not collide with the various wildlife that we saw en route, such as oryx, springbok and zebra.

Immanuel

Immanuel with his fellow coach driving brother and Julian, our guide – quite a front row.

We had a couple more stops; first as we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn and then to see an interesting canyon with sedimentary rocks (including mica. Finally we arrived at the Atlantic coast and stopped at Walvis Bay where we saw some flamingos and a few other birds in the fresh and misty conditions.

 

Swakopmund was a short distance up the coast where we booked into our quaint German colonial style hotel (with dependable WiFi) and then out for dinner at a lovely seafood restaurant right on the sea front.

Click below for gallery of photos from today:

 

 

 

In the evening we booked a nature trail drive around the extensive grounds of the lodge and, as well as seeing quite a lot of wildlife (including oryx, jackels, ground squirrels and a bird of prey – possibly a Secretary Bird) , we enjoyed the most remarkable of “sundowners” watching the sun set from the distant hills which we see from our lodge. Our guide Werner was a most knowledgeable guide and a very welcoming host for the “sundowners”.

Werner informing us about some of the local plants and their medicinal properties

Jackel

Oryx

Ground squirrel

Secretary Bird

Werner’s other skills

It’s not a holiday without a sunset photo

Click below for gallery of this evening’s photos:

 

 

We made an early start for our morning excursion into the national park to explore the Namib Desert. There were a few birds to see, notably Pied Crows, Red-winged Starlings and again lots of Cape Sparrows and other LBJs, but the highlights from a nature point of view (and I make no excuse for including them here in my nature notes blog) were the dunes.

Our guide, Julian, was excellent at pointing out animal tracks in the desert.

Pied Crow

Red-Winged Starling

Cape Sparrow

The younger members of the group – and some not quite so young – climbed Dune 45 (named because it is 45 k from the entrance to the park) before we moved on to visit the Deadvlei clay pans.

The area at Deadvlei was also quite spectacular with clay pans covered in a crust of salt rich sand and surrounded by burnt orange and red towering dunes.

On the way back we stopped briefly to see the small Sesriem Canyon where the Tsauchab River flows and creates the nearby salt and clay pans of Sossuvlei.

By this time the heat was becoming overpowering. On our return to the lodge a shower and lunch were very welcome.

 

Click below for gallery of this morning’s  photos

For the last few months our nature watching has been restricted, in the main, to our local urban parks. For the next few weeks it’s is going to be rather different and, hopefully, rather special.

The first part of or trip to Africa has started in Windhoek, the capital of  Namibia. Following an overnight flight from Heathrow to Johannesburg and a much shorter flight on to Windhoek we had a relaxing first evening in the Windhoek Country Club. This gave us a chance to meet and get to know the other members of our National Geographic G-Adventures group; a very exciting eclectic group with 3 Americans (a couple from Texas and a young man from Boston), 3 Canadians (a couple from Toronto and a young woman from Vancouver), 3 Brits (a young woman from London and us), a young German woman from Hamburg and a young Swiss woman from Lausanne. Plus our South African guide, Julian, has an interest in birds, which makes it even more exciting.

Before we set off on our long journey to the south of Namibia I had a few minutes for some bird photos in the grounds of the Country Club. The most interesting of the birds was a Groundscraper Thrush but there was plenty of others to see, including hirundines of some sort which were screeching back and forth to their nests in the apex of the hotel buildings.

Groundscraper Thrush

En route to Sesriem (6 hours to the south) we saw lots of interesting birds and even stopped for a while to see and learn about the huge nests of Sociable Weavers which we would see regularly along the road.

Sociable Weavers

Sociable Weavers’ nest

We stopped for an excellent lunch at Conny’s Restaurant (which would make a blog in itself) where we also saw lots of Cape Sparrows, Southern Masked Weavers (who also have interesting nests),  a Sunbird  and three quite spectacular noisy Grey Go-Away-Birds.

Gunter preparing a coffee tasting at Conny’s restaurant

Southern Masked Weavers and nests (below)

Cape Sparrow

Female Sunbird

From the coach I saw several raptors and a Hornbill but there was no chance of photos. However, we did stop at one particular point and had great views of a particularly attractive lizard.

Agama lizard

Agama lizard

Agama lizard

The roads were quite interesting but our excellent driver Immanuel was never phased by them and we travelled in comfort in his comfortable Chinese coach

Road works – and not a cone in sight!

In the grounds of our lodge (Sossuvlei) we saw Guinea Fowl, lots of Sociable Weavers (scavenging near the hotel with the Cape Sparrows) and a very attractive bird which I haven’t identified yet.

The view from the lodge with younger members of the group.

White-backed mousebird

Dining al fresco

Click below for a gallery of photos from today (not always in chronological order as I used 2 cameras with different time settings – tut, tut.

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Following a twitter tip-off we managed  to bag a “first” on our Sunday morning walk in our local park when we saw a water rail. There wasn’t much else around except for a female kingfisher. But hey ho who’s complaining.

Water Rail in normal lurking mode.

But then it started to show off.

Female kingfisher showing the orange on its lower mandible

Short video of kingfisher

 

Boating seems to have returned to the lake

Click below for gallery of photos:

It may have been a very challenging day with poor light for photography but there is so much to see (and much of it very close up) that it’s always a delight to visit WWT Slimbridge.

The highlights for me were the constant action of Bewick Swans approaching on their flightpaths, the cranes out on the wetlands, the shear number of waders out on the wetlands and the opportunity to see close up so many exotic wild fowl from all around the world in the well constructed pools.

Bewick swan landing

Crane in flight

Crane landing

Shelduck in flight

The joy of the chase – a lapwing hounded by black-headed gulls

A riot of gulls

Mandarin ducks can be found in the wild too

You don’t normally get this close to a ruff

…or see the sweeping action of avocets so close

Some very exotic birds

…and some very common ones too – blue tits (and great tits) start singing again in January

Some very fierce looking birds

… and some sweet looking ones (such as this goldeneye)

Wigeon in flight

… and flamingos which aren’t going anywhere

Click below for a gallery of photos from today:

 

I was pleased to see all my favourites in my local park on the last day of 2018 even if the light was very poor: kingfisher, dipper, grey wagtail, grey heron and tawny owl. I was disappointed though that the goosanders seem to have moved off the lake: perhaps the cormorants are proving more serious opposition.

I had walked across to Stoke Park first of all but could only see 4 meadow pipits and so was my rewards were much greater in Eastville Park.

Click below for gallery of photos from this morning’s walk:

Merry Christmas everyone; and it wouldn’t be Christmas without a robin.

It was great to go for a walk in our local park on a mild but somewhat misty morning and see so many people out and about enjoying the facility. There was plenty of wildlife for them to enjoy too.

The headline news still seems to be the goosanders with a record 13 there today.

However, there were also plenty of other birds feeding off the fish stock which must be getting low with cormorants, grey herons and kingfishers all seeming to find plenty to satisfy their appetites.

The kingfisher is always the highlight for me but today the best views were of two grey wagtails on the stream that feeds down in to the River Frome.

And now for my Christmas lunch …

Click below for a gallery of photos from this morning:

Just out in the countryside (near Marshfield in South Gloucestershire) keeping well clear of the shops on Christmas Eve when we saw a deer also keeping well clear of lots of horseman and women who were well into their snifters by then.

We were hoping to see some golden plover but just managed a single photo of a pied wagtail. The lure of a coffee was too great.

Click below for a gallery of the few photos from this morning.

I don’t seem to go very far afield at the moment but it was great to get out this morning having been housebound all day yesterday with continuous rain; and what a lovely morning it was.

My special helper spotted a dipper straightaway on the stream that runs down in to the River Frome. The photos are a bit grainy as it was very dark there.

We took a while to spot a kingfisher but there was a great spectacle as it dived right in front of us a caught such a large fish that it had to find a suitable spot in the trees to be able to club it to death before devouring it. We saw the kingfisher again later on but no great opportunity for photos.

The best I could get of the kingfisher and its large lunch

Even the goosanders took a while to spot (2 males and 2 females).

There was a group of 4 grey herons, a flock of 8 long-tailed tits, a grey wagtail and 8 cormorants  and a robin around the lake as well as lots of black-headed gulls and one lesser black-backed gull.

Lesser black-backed gull

A very satisfying morning.

Click below for gallery of photos from this morning:

 

 

 

There’s always a concern about the wildlife when a major event takes place in the park but when Santa Claus visited the park today it seemed very much like business as usual. The goosanders (2 male and 2 females today) were in their usual place as were the kingfishers and grey herons, all unperturbed by the festive activities.

Reindeer in the park

Male goosander

Click below for gallery of photos from this morning: