Somerset West Bird Club Outing – Rooi Els and Betty’s Bay (16 March 2013) The day started as any good day of birding does, by waking up far too early. The alarms were set for 5:00, allowing us 45 minutes to wake up, get ready and to grab some snacks/breakfast and put in petrol. Cathryn, […]
After my busy day out on Saturday the 9th of March I decided I may as well make the most of the fading summer weather and go out for the morning on Sunday, prior to the cricket which was starting at 10:00. We’re now losing more than 2 minutes of daylight a day with Autumn
The final installment of my rather busy Saturday that happened on the 9th March. After spending my pre-sunrise hours at Sir Lowry’s Pass and my morning and mid-afternoon hours at Helderberg Nature Reserve, I went home for a couple of hours rest. It wasn’t long before the next item on the schedule arrived though. Each
Continuing on from my previous installment from Sir Lowry’s Pass. The time was now 7:30 and the Helderberg Nature Reserve gates had just opened, so I decided to head through to catch what I hoped would be some early morning bird activity. I arrived at the reserve at around 7:50 and the sun was now
I will start this post by bringing your attention to the ‘part 1’ you see above. The reason this is a single part of a multi-part ‘series’, is because I spent almost an entire day out this Saturday and going through 3 batteries and having to empty the CF card in between – I ended
2017 UPDATE The original Hoya ND400 9-stop review article below was released in 2013, just weeks after I had purchased the filter. Since then I have shot thousands of landscape and seascape photographs using this filter, some of which I have sold as canvas prints and others been published in magazines. 3 years later and
Steppe Buzzards are the most common of raptors for parts of South Africa during the summer months, specifically the Western Cape. Yet somehow my encounters with these creatures had been limited, in actual fact, I had seen more individual Cape Mystery Buzzards than I had Steppe Buzzards. I wanted to encounter the Steppe Buzzard as
The original plans this weekend were to head off with Cathryn to Kirstenbosch Gardens on Saturday morning and attempt to find some of our feathered friends, though due to rain which persisted through most of the day, we found that we were unable to really head out at all. Sunday morning however, the sun was
I have been an awful birder of late, just horrible… I never twitched the Black Tern at Strandfontein, nor the Baillon’s Crake at Intaka Island. To be frank, I just haven’t had the energy for the most part. I should explain that my personality caters itself to obsession, followed by periods of complete inactivity, then
My old storm chasing forum signature used to be “Keep your eyes to the skies”, but over the past weeks or so the skies have held much of nothing. During the summer months the reason for the hot weather is due to a high pressure system which steadies itself over the western parts of the
Again I find myself with the compulsion to apologize for a lengthy absence from the site, in fact it’s been near 2 months since my previous entry. Once again my opening sentiments will remain in line with my previous post in that despite several birding attempts over the past 2 months, things have been far
There has been an undeniable lack of updates over the past couple of weeks and that is frankly due to a variety of things on my part, and then of course a number of things on nature’s part. I’ve headed out for birds on a number of occasions now over the past few weeks but
Helderberg Nature Reserve There was a bird club outing this Saturday morning, but unfortunately I was not able to get up at 6am due to a lingering illness I’ve had for a few weeks now, leaving me desiring more rest, or so was the plan. I ended up waking up around 9:00 and despite the
For those reading with the intention of only hearing about the Tawny sighting, you can scroll down to Tuesday 25 September. Wednesday – 19 September 2012 Another lunch time meet up with Tertius Gous at the Helderberg Nature Reserve started off with a sighting of a Juvenile Jackal Buzzard in close proximity on the drive
The week started out less than great, on the night of my previous blog post, my car was broken into – drivers side window smashed and my GPS stolen, while I somehow never heard the alarm go off. This was followed by a rush to get a new window installed prior to taking my car
Well now, where to start? The beginning as good a place as any… Yesterday (Friday 7 September 2012) I went to the Helderberg Nature Reserve as I often do during my lunch breaks, I started out at the pond before seeing one of the Cape Mystery Buzzards near their breeding forest, hence I decided to
Well Spring is definitely in the air with avian activity picking up, with both breeding pairs being seen more actively and some of the migratory birds returning. Though it is not only birds that are giving hints of the season, the Oak trees are now almost completely green in places and with the weather forecasts
Friday – 17 August 2012 Starting on Friday, after a series of strong cold fronts which brought some damaging winds, icy temperatures and heavy rain, the sun was finally showing again and on my way home from work for lunch I noticed an unusually large amount of Pied Crows circling around the area, I figured
The past week has been anything but easy, both personally and in regards to being out taking photographs. Without getting too much into the personal knocks, my grandmother passed away last weekend, she was always extremely supportive of my love for photography and every week would edge me on, asking that I show her the
While success in birding can often be tied to dedication, there is no way of getting around the fact that it also includes a lot of luck. You can be visit a local patch regularly for a vast number of hours, but there is still the possibility that the second you leave, an unbelievably rare
After meaning to make one of the Bird Club outings for a number of months, I finally had the weekend free and was completely dedicated to attending this time. I started following the timing of the weather closely from early in the week and one day it looked terrible, then it looked more promising and
