Category: Blog

A pleasant day was forecast and we fancied a walk in the country. However, we weren’t  sure how muddy it would be after recent rain and so opted for a walk through the woods at RSPB Nagshead in the Forest of Dean, along tracks which we knew would not be too onerous. The recent removal of tolls from the Severn Bridges is certainly going to entice us across the Severn Estuary more often.

The Forest of Dean is one of the surviving ancient woodlands in England with more than 110 square kilometres of mixed woodland and lots of fairly rare birds (such as hawfinch and crossbills)  often reported there. However today at RSPB Nagshead we saw very few birds at all. The woodland, though, held plenty of charm.

I did, however, have plenty of opportunities to photograph birds when we stopped a little further on at Cannop Ponds where there were a variety of ducks.

Mallards are looking very attractive at this time of year but nowhere near as attractive as the mandarin ducks, which I hardly ever see other than here where they appear in fairly large numbers. There were also tufted ducks and a couple of little grebe which, busy diving, were quite a challenge to photograph.

Male mandarin duck

Female mandarin duck

Successful dive for this little grebe

Little grebe

Diving little grebe

Male tufted duck

Female tufted duck

Male mallard

The mute swans are always beautiful

Coot

Click below for gallery of photos from today:

 

 

It’s always nice to come home. However, this time it has been challenging as the weather has been very wet and windy and it’s been difficult to get out and about. We did manage to dodge the showers this morning and even saw a little sunshine when we went for a walk in our local park.

It was reassuring to see some of the regulars, especially as we had several views of a kingfisher (on the newly named Kingfisher Island) and a tawny owl (on the newly named Tawny Island). But there were lots of birds about and we saw great tits, long-tailed tits, over 100 black-headed gulls, 2 mute swans, a robin, a great-spotted woodpecker, a few Canada geese, some coots, a grey heron (who had some success fishing) and a magpie (whose feathers looked very iridescent in the sunshine). There were even mallards mating which suggested (along with the daffodils, wild chives and catkins) that spring is nor so far away.

Robin

Tawny owl

Female kingfisher

Grey heron

Wood pigeons

Canada goose

Mute swans

Black-headed gull

Mallard

Grey heron

Magpie

Click below for gallery of photos from this morning:

 

Our last few days in and around Cape Town were spent visiting friends and doing tourist activities. However, we did manage to pack in one more trip to the birding area at Strandfontein. It was a last minute decision and we didn’t even have binoculars with us (although I did have a camera!) but once again we had lovely close-up views of the birds. The best were barn swallows, African black oyster catchers and African sacred ibis.

Barn swallows

African black oystercatchers

African Sacred Ibis

Black-winged stilts

Pied avocet

Great white pelican

Southern Masked Weaver

Spur-winged goose

Greater flamingos

Cattle egret

Hadeda ibis

Cape Wagtail

Click below for gallery of photos.

 

We couldn’t imagine coming to Cape Town without visiting the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden near Newlands Cricket Ground (where we spent yesterday at an international one day cricket match between South Africa and Pakistan).

Kirstenbosch is an important botanical garden nestled at the eastern foot of Table Mountain in Cape Town. The garden is one of ten National Botanical Gardens covering five of South Africa’s six different biomes and administered by the South African National Biodiversity Institute.

Kirstenbosch includes a fragrance garden, a medicinal garden, 2,500 species of plants found on the Cape Peninsula, a Protea garden (best seen in spring!), a braille trail, and a cycad amphitheatre. There is also the Botanical Society Conservatory, which houses plants from the continent’s more arid regions. In more recent years we have been able to enjoy a walk along the Centenary Tree Canopy Walkway – affectionately known as the Boomslang. This 130-metre steel-and-timber bridge snakes its way through and over the trees of the Arboretum, providing stunning views of the Garden and the Cape Flats.

Tree Canopy Walkway

Here we have previously seen some really good bird life including sun birds, sugar birds and even a Spotted Eagle Owl. We wern’t so lucky this year but there were  a few species of birds and butterflies and the flora was magnificent.

After our visit we went to the nearby vineyard of Groot Constantia and studied the vines (and enjoyed some of the results of the winemakers efforts).

Views of the gardens toward Table Mountain

Birds and butterflies

Sombre Greenbul?

African Dusky Flycatcher?

Cape Batis

Cape Spurfowl

Hadeda Ibis

Egyptian Goose

Normal view of Egyptian Goose

Cape Bulbul

Selection of flora

Groot Constantia

A few photos of the route back to our accommodation in Camps Bay

The Twelve Apostles (at the back of Table Mountain)

Camps Bay in the distance

Click below for a gallery of photos from today:

 

 

Another amazing day on this amazing continent. Our hosts Merryl and Steve really indulged us today and and took us to, what I consider to be, the best place I have ever been for bird watching – False Bay Nature Reserve.

The highlights in the main centre at Rondevlei were pelicans, African sacred ibis, glossy ibis, spoonbills, various plovers, black-winged stilts, little egrets, Cape wagtails, Cape teal, red-billed teal, Egyptian geese, Blacksmith lapwings and loads that I haven’t identified yet. It was quite windy and there didn’t seem to be many little birds darting around the beautiful vegetation but there was no reason to complain.

When we moved on to the lakes near the sewerage works (Strandfontein birding area) it was just as exciting as our visit last year, with all of the above plus flamingos, Hadeda ibis, little grebes, barn swallows, pied avocets, and a raptor which I think may have been a black-shouldered kite.

You visit this section by car and you get to see the birds really close up. The birds are not bothered by the cars which aren’t numerous anyway – we didn’t see another car at all today and only two last year.

There was certainly so much else to see but I didn’t want to push my luck too much; our hosts had been so accommodating and the thought of a lunch by the beach at Muizenburg was even more enticing than an overdose of birds.

Thanks Merryl and Steve for a very special day.

Beautiful vegetation

An amazing setting

Very accommodating hosts

Glossy ibis

Flamingos

Black-shouldered kite ?

Egyptian goose

Pied avocet

Sacred ibis

Pelican

Red-billed teal

Cape teal

Cape wagtail

Spoonbills and pelicans 

Terns

Black-winged stilt

Kittlitz plover

Three-banded plover

Flamingo

Hadeda ibis

Spur-winged goose

White-necked raven

Click below for a gallery of some of today’s photos:

 

 

Whilst I was looking out at the beautiful view from the balcony of our excellent accommodation in Camps Bay (51, Camps Bay) I saw some Cape White-eye feeding off the nectar of the tree right in from of me.

A room with a view

Cape White-eye

A little worryingly behind us I could see a fire rampaging on the hillside of the Lion’s Head. However, the fire brigade seemed to be coping well with their helicopters.

We then drove to Hout Bay and had a walk along the beach. Even quite early in the morning the temperature was around 30 degrees, but with the gentlest of breezes coming off the sea it was bearable. As we walked we saw a few cormorants (Cape and Bank Cormorants), some distant Kelp Gulls and a Swift Tern.

Swift Tern

As it was getting even hotter we decide to take a boat trip to Duiker Island, the Seal Colony, where we could view thousands of wild Cape Fur Seals close up in their beautiful natural habitat. There were also lots of Cape and Bank Cormorants, some Kelp Gulls and even one Penguin.

A Kelp Gull

A solitary penguin (Lost and Found?)

Pet seal?

Chapman’s Peak (outside looking in)

Click below for gallery of photos:

 

 

 

 

I’ll let the photos speak for themselves of the hugely impressive natural phenomena of the Zambezi River and the Victoria Falls seen from the air.

Click below for gallery of photos from this afternoon’s flight.

Friday 25th January 2019

Windhoek to Victoria Falls

Our flight to Victoria Falls was slightly delayed and so we  had just 20 minutes to drop off our bags before departing for a visit to a local Zimbabwean woman’s home to hear about local customs and to take part in a meal of local products. It was particularly interesting hearing about family attitudes to boys and girls forming relationships and the role of aunties and uncles.

By the time we returned to the hotel there was no opportunity for any wildlife photos.

Saturday 26th January 2019

We had yet another early start as we set off to visit the Victoria Falls. We stopped en  route to visit an ancient Baobab, believed to be between 1000 and 1500 years old.

At the entrance to the park we had a talk from our local guide about the Falls and, in particular, the story of their discovery by Dr Livingston. It was very interesting but, with the roar of the Falls in the background we were all desperate to move on to get our first sight of them.

Walking through the park we could see and hear plenty of bird life amongst the very green vegetation which was interspersed with lots of orchids and other plants such as Deadly Nightshade.

As we had not had even the slightest glimpse of the Falls (except, what even Livingston had considered to be, clouds of smoke) until we were well into the park, it was indeed a magical moment when we did at last get a glimpse of them.

Our very first glimpse of the Falls

We had nine major view points along the pathway, many of them quite precariously close to the cliff edge which was extremely slippery from the spray. It was not perfect weather for photographs as the sky was quite hazy and the spray was, at times, very heavy. However, there was no doubt that the Falls were an amazing sight to see.

In the afternoon w elected to take a short helicopter ride to see the Falls. This was an expensive excursion and the flight only lasted 12-13 minutes. Nonetheless, this was a most amazing experience and enabled us to see (and photograph) the Falls at their best.

Two of the younger members of our “ Namibian Group” took a microlight flight which sounded even more amazing than our flight, lasting longer and even presenting opportunities to see wildlife from the air.

Click below for gallery of photos from this morning:

On the way back to Windhoek we stopped at the Cheetah Conservation Fund centre at Otjiwarongo. The CCF is an international non-profit organization headquartered in Namibia, with operations in the United States, Canada, Australia, Italy and the United Kingdom, and partner organizations in several other nations.

Our visit started at the very informative museum; we then went out into the field to see some of the “rescue” cheetahs before having lunch at the centre. During lunch we had two talks; one from an intern about the work of the centre and then another from the Founder and Executive Director, the very impressive Dr Laurie Marker, who told us about the world-wide scope of the CCF.

After lunch we went to see some more of the “rescue” cheetahs being fed and told more about the work of the centre from a Canadian intern and from the head of the department, who hailed from just outside our home city of Bristol.

A fascinating visit was made even better by seeing flocks of vultures overhead as the meat was put out for the cheetahs.

The CCF’s website is well worth a look at.

Click below for gallery of photos:

 

We were due to set off early for the trip back to Windhoek but fortunately we had a short period of delay as a flat battery was sorted on the coach (our driver Immanual was trying to keep our drinks cool) and we had a further hour at the waterhole. The highlight was the action of a jackal attempting to steal a baby Springbok. Some photos are not for the squeamish.

(Labelling to follow)

African Red-eyed Bulbul

Helmeted Guineafowl (Etosha National Park – January 2019)

Cape Turtle Dove (Etosha National Park, Namibia – January 2019)

Helmeted Guineafowl (Etosha National Park – January 2019)

Red-billed Spurfoul

Click below for gallery of photos:

 

 

 

 

 

 

A glutton for punishment we had another visit to the waterhole and, again, saw some magnificent birds and mammals.

I’ll name some of these later.

Shaft-tailed Whydah

Southern red-billed Hornbill

Baby Springbok swimming to his mum

Three-banded Plover

Blue Wildebeast

 

Lilac-breasted Roller

Lilac-breasted Roller

Click below for gallery of photos:

The game drive in the afternoon started at 3 p.m. and was really hard work in the heat of the day. (What did the bushman tell us about not moving around between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. ?)

The highlight of the mammals were the Black Rhinos – one of whom wallowed in the mud right under our noses) but I particularly enjoyed some of the bird life we saw: notably, the Northern Black Korhaan and the raptors which I am yet to identify.

South African Ground squirrel

The remains of a giraffe which, we were told. was slow to get up less than a week ago

Scrub Hare 

Hartmann’s Zebra

Kori Bustard

Black Rhino

Northern Black Korhaan

Crowned Plover

Northern Black Korhaan

Black-faced Impala

White-headed Vulture ?

African harrier hawk

Rhino

The cool group ?

Click below for photos from this afternoon