Our leader for the morning, Jill Mortimer, warned us that we could expect to see very few birds that morning as a fire had swept through the reserve in mid April, destroying much of the vegetation.
However we all agreed to carry on and as we walked up the mountain we saw three sunbird species which occur there, Cape Sugarbird, and further up Rufous-chested Sparrowhawk and Jackal Buzzard flying overhead. After reaching the burnt area we retraced our steps adding Common Waxbill and Pin-tailed Whydah to our list.

We then circled the lake and saw Cape Weavers actively building their nests, which was a bit early for this time of the year, and then headed for the educational centre and house where Nico Myburgh, one time curator of the reserve once lived. Here we saw African Olive-Pigeon, Brimstone Canary, Cape Canary and Fiscal Flycatcher.

During a late morning tea on the lawns we were entertained by Cape Francolin wanting to share our sandwiches, Bokmakieries and a Fiscal Shrike. There had been a report of a juvenile Purple Heron on the island in the lake the previous afternoon and we then decided to see if it was still there. While searching the island we saw a Reed Cormorant catch an enormous frog in the water, and were entertained for the next 20 minutes or so watching the cormorant trying to swallow the frog.

Photograph by Frank Hallett

Reed Cormorant with its catch.

After it had succeeded we continued our search for the heron which we eventually spotted lying very still and well camouflaged in the reeds. However, it then got up from its resting place and we had good views of it walking amongst the reeds. Although we had expected to be disappointed, this outing turned out to be a very pleasant and rewarding morning birding, with a final list of 34 species. The success of the outing was in no small measure due to the excellent leadership of Jill Mortimer, for which we would like to thank her most warmly.

Frank Hallett.