This is a voluntary working relationship with the City of Cape Town and the Cape Bird Club since 1974.
A cool afternoon with an approaching cold front. There was a gentle breeze from the NW. There was very high static cloud which made the sun appear as a fuzzy yellow ball in the sky. Around the mountains there were lower clouds starting to move in overland with the approaching cold front.
In our trek around we found a few active Grysbok middens. We disturbed a Grey Mongoose too, along a pathway. There are a number of gerbil holes and tunnels in the grass down on the flat marshy areas. There is still plenty of work for us to do in this area, regrowth and new growth which is about 2 years old. Anyway one can see the flowers are in abundance at this time, it will be interesting to see what new species of plants we can find here. The small pink flowers are called klappertjies, as the flower forms a round seed pod which “bangs – klaps” when squeezed. Interestingly there were no visible insects flying or crawling about, maybe the falling barometric pressure had sent them to shelter from the coming rain.
The bird life was very active this afternoon as it always is when it is overcast with low cloud. We saw 30 species with the African Marsh Harrier, Black Shouldered Kite, Fork tailed Drongo and the Purple Heron the highlights. Cape Sparrows were building nests in a number of shrubs and nearby on electricity poles. The male doves were flying in gliding descending circles displaying as they do when they are in breeding mode. A number species were flying about in pairs. Many Warblers were flying about in the reeds along the rivers edge.
As we were getting into our cars, big rain drops started falling.
See this link for the past reports of what we have done.
photographs by Gavin Lawson.
Gavin Lawson.