Megan and myself were lucky enough to be spending this Sunday with the Hardakers, whom I hadn’t had the pleasure of birding with properly since our last twitch of the Marabou Stork in 2013. The original plan was for us to head out on Saturday and target the Antarctic Terns in Jacobs Bay, and the…
This was the second consecutive weekend that I would be in Cape Town, and luckily for me the Snowy Egret was still around, giving me something to do while Megan was at work on Saturday. Saturday was off to a rough start, with having woken up at 4am with back pain and struggling to sleep….
In the middle of last week I made a post about my first twitch of the Snowy Egret which was spotted along the Black River near Cape Town a week ago now, I also mentioned how short I was on time — with my original twitch being done during my lunch break. Because I was…
Last night (8 June) I was running through my Facebook news feed when I saw a post made to the Wider Cape Town Birders Challenge group about an unusual Egret sighting that happened along Black River, just off the M5 near Cape Town. The post, made by Dominic Rollinson didn’t garner too much attention at…
It’s been exactly two years since my last visit to De Hoop Nature Reserve, until this weekend that is. On Friday evening, Megan and myself discussed what we would be doing the next day and I asked her which of the Western Cape bird species she’d most like to see in person. Her response was…
This past Saturday morning I was running through my Facebook news feed when I saw mention of a Yellow Wagtail reported at Strandfontein Sewage Works near Cape Town. Having the morning free, and having not had a chance to see a Yellow Wagtail yet, I debated the 40 minute drive for a bit before deciding…
After several months of mechanics, my car finally gave a code on a diagnostic scanner and on Thursday morning I found myself with a car that had a cleaned throttle body – I was hesitant that this would be the fix, but I was hoping. My girlfriend has been in McGregor for a few weeks,…
A friend of mine recently contacted me asking if I would want to go camping for the long weekend, as we had both taken leave for the Friday. After weighing up the options, we decided that we would spend a couple nights at Kogelbaai (Koeel Bay / Cool Bay). Since Cool Bay is only 20…
I was contacted by Trevor Hardaker this past week, letting me know that him and Margaret, his wife – would be passing through my area and heading to Rooi Els to target some birds for the challenge. They knew I still needed the Ground Woodpecker as a lifer and figured that it would be a…
This previous weekend saw some local birding which started on Saturday morning. On Friday night I sent local photography and bird enthusiast Etienne Beneke a message to find out if he was perhaps keen to go birding on the Saturday morning. Etienne tries to get out every weekend, so he was more than amped to…
The second day of our camping trip saw me waking up just before sunrise, the temperatures were surprisingly comfortable during the night, but the fresh morning air required some extra padding before heading out with the camera. The clouds from the day before had disappeared and although the sun was still hidden behind the mountain…
With the recent long weekend, I made plans with my friend Andrew to go on a bit of a camping trip. I was given the challenge of planning the route and finding the best places to camp. Initially I spent about a week looking for locations, everything from the Cedarberg to the Tankwa Karoo. In…
This day was set to be far more memorable than I had imagined it would be. I woke up, and had to put in for a day’s leave urgently as I had to take care of some things; but I was free until 11:30 in the morning so I figured I would risk my unreliable…
It was an early Saturday morning, and it actually started at the beach. I originally woke up early for a surf session, heading in at around 07:00, and leaving the glassy waters at around 09:30. I figured that since I was so close to Paardevlei, I may as well head down and see if there…
Saturday (15 February 2014) – Newlands Raptor Watch This past weekend saw the annual Somerset West Bird Club raptor watch take place at Newlands Forest. Last year was my first time attending this yearly outing and we managed to catch sight of a European Honey Buzzard that time, so I was hoping for a repeat…
This is my first post since the new year, so happy new year everybody. I hope that you get out there and do lots of birding! My year has started with a car that keeps failing me and leaving me unable to bird as much as I’d want. Though thankfully I’ve had some help in…
I can’t even remember when last I made a blog post, and quite frankly it’s inexcusable, as I have had many pretty good days out since my last update. However, I figured that I should make at least one post to end of the year. This year has been far from great, on almost all…
On Sunday the 10th November 2013, my girlfriend, her father and myself went for a day’s outing to the West Coast National Park. Originally we had planned to head through on the 9th, but the weather was forecast to be clearer on the Sunday, so we opted for the Sunday instead. Mike Golby, Cathryn’s father…
It was once again time for the monthly Somerset West Bird Club outing, and the weather was not looking kind at first light. The forecast wasn’t great and I wasn’t expecting much, and having woken up with a sore ankle, I was weighing whether I should go or not. At 7:40 I contacted Rose Mills…
With winter now fully upon us, the monthly outings have moved to departure occurring at 07:30. Cathryn, who has recently become a member of the Somerset West Bird Club would be enjoying the first outing as a member, while she had joined me on a previous outing to see how she would enjoy it, things…