Dargle Wildlife Sightings – June 2015

The lovely warm winter days have certainly been abundant this year, we have had some chilly frosty mornings here in the Dargle, but by 9am it’s usually pretty warm. One thing needing mentioning, the Merricks sent through their sightings for March, but somehow they got lost in “cyber space” and only came through in June! So let’s see what pictures have been sent in and creatures spotted…

Tony Ritchie/Helen Booysen – Crab Apple Cottages

This pic of our Crowned Eagle was taken by a guest: Tony Ritchie, as the bird flew over our driving session on Monday 15th June.

Crowned Eagle

Nikki Brighton and Tiffany Atwell (Old Kilgobbin) as well as Tammy Caine & Shane McPherson (Owl Box Project)

Early morning wanders around the farmyard have been a real treat for the last while. Often the silent silhouette of a barn owl swoops by just before the sun starts to rise. The hungry hiss of a couple of chicks in the owl box is unmistakable, but we can’t see them tucked safely in their bed high in the shed. Fortunately, Tammy Caine and Shane McPherson of the Owl Box Project visited to install a box in another shed on the farm and couldn’t resist a peek. Tiffany took these wonderful photos while they ringed the chicks so that we will be able to see if one of them takes up residence nearby.

Dr. Amy-Leigh Shuttleworth, School of Life Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal

Some images captured on the trail cameras on Albury Farm last month, Sandra Merrick sent through this information:

Dr Amy-Leigh put up 4 cameras during the month, as we had a very active aardvark on the farm but as usual, no luck after ten days, but there are a couple of other wonderful pics she sent us.

This huge samango monkey at sunrise was a surprise.

Male Duiker

Male Duiker

 

Jackal

Porcupine

 

Reedbuck doe

Ashley Crookes – Copperleigh Farm

After attending all the recent Owl talks we’ve had in the Dargle, I have tried to be more observant to see what owls we have here on our farm. Last month we had a Barn Owl flying around inside our shed whilst we were working with the sheep. Then last week as I was driving out the gate in the evening, there was an African Eagle owl sitting on the fence just looking out over the veld. Hopefully he/she managed to catch lots of rodents and keep them out of our tractors!

Brian & Marashene Lewis – GlenGyle

The first part of June did not deliver many photographs. Brian then moved the camera to a different part of the GlenGyle forest. (These were all captured with the Dargle Conservancy Trophy Camera.)

Blue Duiker

Bushbuck doe

Bushbuck ram

Jackal

Porcupine Family

Spotted Genet

Tailend of a Bushpig

Pat and Sandra Merrick – Albury Farm (March & June)

We were away when the juvenile Blue Crane started flying. They are still on our farm and fly to the dam every night at about 5.30pm.

Blue crane family – the juvenile started flying early march while we were away

Saw 7 crowned crane at the dam one evening. Have seen 2 sets of Crowned crane with one juvenile this month. Have not seen our Blue crane in a long while.

Grey crowned crane with juvenile

Last month we got quite excited when we saw a large hole had been dug in the hill opposite our house.

Aardvark burrow

We went to investigate and found scratch marks from the claws of the aardvark just inside the burrow. I contacted Dr Amy Wilson who came out with her trail cameras and set up 3 outside the burrow. Unfortunately, the next 8 nights were either stormy or drizzly and cold. Much to our disappointment, the cameras showed no activity at all, so either he had bunkered down or gone elsewhere.

Aardvark claw marks inside burrow

The black female sunbird was sitting when we went away but not there on our return so not sure if a juvenile had been hatched.

Black female sunbird sitting once again

The swallows, sparrows, barn owls and rock pigeons are still around the house.

House sparrow

Seen a number of duiker and reed buck. They are eating the acorns.

Male duiker

The black sparrowhawks are still in the gum plantation. The buzzards seem to have vanished.

Jackal buzzard

Chats, sunbirds, wagtails, southern bou bous, cape robins, drakensberg prinia, olive thrushs still around.

Olive thrush in the rain

Gurney’s Sugarbird

Black sunbird on kniphofia

I am convinced that these Malachite sunbirds were mating. I saw this happening beginning June. The problem is, do sunbirds mate in winter?

Malachites

They first both landed on tree, looked at each other and then touched beaks (did not get this photo unfortunately). They moved closer together on branch and then she turned upside down and he flew on top of her – this all happened in seconds…

Perhaps someone who is experienced in this behaviour can shed some light on what they were doing.

Male malachite sunbird

We saw our neighbour who told us that he had 9 water buck on his farm eating his pastures, so we decided to go for a hike one morning when the electricity was off for 13 hours (repairs). He also told us that there were a number of aardvark holes next to the dirt road. He had noticed the trophy camera that Dr Amy Wilson had put up the previous week, as we had told her the aardvark was around once more digging his holes. She put up several cameras around our farm roads.

Unknown butterfly

It was a beautiful morning and we soon found the 9 Waterbuck lying in the long grass. There were many aardvark prints in the soft dirt road and also a number of large holes. I took a few pics and we carried on walking to a stream on the next door farm, wanting to stop for a tea break. What we encountered in the Wattle trees was a bush pig. Fortunately there was no confrontation and he just ran off. Whew.

Aardvark prints

The very next day those same 9 water buck arrived on our farm once more. We have always had 5 buck but now the 9 from next door had arrived – had they followed our scent?
They seemed to enjoy eating the roughage for a few hours before disappearing over the dam wall. We haven’t seen them since.

The water buck are back, but 9 arrived on farm this time although only managed to get 7 in this shot

The one Barn owlet was giving us a lot of problems through the month by flying through the security beams every night. We were getting a little tired of this and one night when he arrived on the window sill I told Pat to go and fetch him before the dogs caught him! We put him in a large box and took him to Free Me next day. We decided to do this before he injured his wings. All the previous owlets that we have taken to Free Me had injured their wings. When I went to go see him a week later at Free Me, I was told that Tammy Caine from the Raptor Rehab centre had arrived at Free Me and had ringed him and taken him away. I just hope that he will be released soon in an area where he will be happy.

Barn owl on window sill

I have seen a number of commodore butterflies this month. One sat on the ceiling in our lounge for a week. One warm morning when I opened the doors he flew out.

Garden Commodore (Precis archesia)

Emperor swallowtail

A pair of African shelduck at the dam.

A pair of shelduck

A yellowbilled duck hatched out 10 ducklings beginning of the month. So very late. A few days ago only 4 were left! Every night about 60 spurwing geese spend the night on the dam. Pat saw 3 francolin chicks.

Yellow bill duck and 4 ducklings

There are a lot of reedbuck around – a few days ago saw a baby reedbuck with mom which was encouraging as the jackal are still howling every night.

Female reedbuck

Dargle Wildlife Sightings – February 2015

Oak Tree Cottage – Barry Downard

Chameleon

Saw this chameleon making his way across the lawn… unusually dark colours, but looks like he’s just shed his skin.

And an interesting shot of a mantis and his shadow.

Jenny Fly

The first photo is of Collared Earth Stars growing in the leaf mould of a yellowwood

Collared Earth Stars

and the other two of unknown fungi.

Fungi 1

Fungi 2

Albury Farm – Pat and Sandra Merrick

While I was deheading flowers 3 weeks ago nearly stood on a puff adder. It did disappear into shrubbery thank goodness but have not done much gardening since. At least we had good rain afterwards. We have had 150mm rain for the month.

Rainbow over garden one morning after storm.

The Juvenile Blue Crane is doing well and now 3 months old. Still not flying.

Juvenile Blue Crane

 

Dozens of chats are back. Swallows and sparrows nesting once more. The barn owls are still in chimney. Hundreds of toadstools after the rains especially around the oak trees. Pat saw spotted eagle owl on D18 and then again one evening.

Beautiful sunset evening.

He also saw a baby reedbuck under a bug tree one morning while spraying. It ran off. Five Grey Crowned Crane have visited the dam. They nest on our neighbour’s farm and rear 2 to 3 juveniles each year. They have been there for the 30 years that we have lived on the farm. The problem about rearing the young is that there are a couple of water monitors in the dam which seem to eat the young.

Levaillant’s Cisticola

Little grebe, egyptian geese and yellow bill duck have all reared youngsters. Black sunbird (male in flight) female built another nest on glass shade on verandah and she is now sitting. Male pops in and out feeding her.

♂ Amethyst Sunbird in flight

The Jackals are still seen during the day. Two Reedbuck carcasses found at the dam. Not sure if they died of natural causes or were attacked and eaten. Still see many reed buck and duiker. Heard ground woodpecker.

♂ Malachite Sunbird

♀ Malachite Sunbird on Kniphofia

 

Ten days ago we saw that the aardvark had dug an enormous hole in the side of the hill opposite our house. We called Amy Wilson, who does research on these animals, and she came and set up 3 camera traps. She will be collecting them next week, so hopefully we may be able to show you some footage next month.

White Stork roosting in gum tree.

We have had a number of crabs running around. 2 on our verandah and…

Unidentified Crab

 

… a Steppe Buzzard eating one in our driveway. He took about 5 minutes to devour it but only ate the innards as the shell was left. The Steppe and Jackal Buzzard visit us every few days. They are eating frogs and crabs in our small pools.

Steppe buzzard eating a crab

One night the dogs were barking for hours. Pat eventually went out to have a look and found that they had cornered a giant grey mongoose in the stream. A fight ensued and they killed it but not before giving my rottie a severe bite on his face. Fortunately they have had their rabies vaccinations.

Many butterflies in the garden. Took hours of patience to photograph them as they flit around so quickly.

Garden Commodore

Common Diadem

Common Diadem – Hard to believe this is same butterfly with wings closed.

 

Citrus Swallowtail (Papilio demodocus)

Unidentified Butterfly – flits around very quickly, pale yellow with strange markings on wings with little circles here and there…

My most exciting news is that a month after the cape robins vanished from their nest (last months newsletter) I saw them in the garden one morning sitting on the water spray. They had caught an earthworm and mom was close by watching the antics. They do not look like robins yet. They are brown/grey with mottled chests and reddish tails. I have taken many pics of them swimming in the rock pool each morning.

Juvenile Cape Robin-Chat

There is also another cape robin still feeding her youngster. I never realised that birds continue to feed and nurture their young for a number of weeks after leaving the nest.

Mom Cape Robin-Chat still feeding juvenile after 6 weeks.

There is also a juvenile (I think) Southern Boubou making use of the rock pool.

Southern Boubou

Some wildflowers seen this month:

Impatiens hochstetteri

Crocosmia aurea

Argyrolobium tomentosum (velvety yellow bush pea)

Bergonia sutherlandii

 

Not sure what these orange fungus things are that grow on broken down trees are called – found in forest

 

Hopedale Farm – Mike & Ann Weeden

Mike and Ann rented the Dargle Conservancy trophy camera from November 2014 up until January this year and thought that they hadn’t captured anything. I managed to locate 1 video of a Reedbuck doe which is available on the “Dargle” Facebook page. I made a screen capture so you can see an image of it.

Reedbuck doe

Copperleigh Farm – Ashley Crookes

Not a good month for the poor snakes, found a few dead ones.

Dead Puffadder killed by dog.

Squashed snake (Night Adder I think) and frog on road.

 

Ethan found a dead Red-lipped Herald snake.

 

We also had a nice thunderstorm this afternoon (Saturday). Unfortunately we all got caught on top of the hill and were soaked through by the time we got home, but there was a brilliant rainbow afterwards.

Brilliant rainbow after storm

 

I’ve also been using the DC Trophy camera for a couple of weeks now and managed to capture some of the Yellow-billed ducks and Spurwing geese we have around our little island on Mavela Dam.

Sunset after storm over Mavela Dam.

 

Egyptian Geese

 

Will get videos onto the Dargle Facebook page soon. We also had a Barn Owl flying through our shed this past week while we were working with the sheep which was quite exciting.

Frog in shed

 

Natal Green Snake on the paving.

Close up…

…and then climbing up into the roof!

Other sightings:

Garden Commodore or Garden Inspector (Precis archesia)

Mushroom gills

Toadstool

Kniphofia caulescens – Red Hot Poker

 

Dargle Wildlife Sightings – July

Most of the icy fingers of winter have passed us by here in the Dargle, with a few cold days appearing here and there. Lots of frosty mornings over the last month yielded some great photos from those whose fingers didn’t freeze before releasing the camera trigger button!

Dieter Setz – Wakecroft

We counted 36 Eland in one herd, on our farm in the morning of 12th July. As I did not have my camera with me I do not have proof.  I did capture frost on colourful leaves.

Icy feet in one of the Wakecroft streams.

Frozen watercress at Wakecroft stream.

‘Ice flowers’ in our pond

Tom and Lucinda Bate – Inversanda

We have seen a family of 6 bush pig on two occasions and 2 porcupines escorted us down our drive last night. Much to our relief a duiker has returned to our garden having been absent for a few months.

Nikki Brighton – Old Kilgobbin Farm

Once again, I have enjoyed the subtle colours, the little surprises and the birds so close to my cottage as everything struggles for survival in this dry season. The forests are topped with copper curls of the Dalberghia laden with seeds.

The edges are strung with yellow Gnidia

and the sweet fragrance of Buddleja in full bloom. Both B. auriculata

and the faded mauve, B. saligna

Under the canopy it is pretty dry, but Halleria lucida can be counted on to provide some succour for the birds.

Winter is the nicest time to walk in the grasslands, as the animal paths are easy to follow and there are firebreaks to explore.

In recently burnt bits, the cheery Cyrtanthus breviflorus has already poked through the charcoal,

While in old grass, silvery Helichysum sparkle.

Tiny pools of water reflect the husks of Themeda triandra and provide much needed moisture for wildlife.

Stone chats flit from rock to rock,

Greyia sutherlandii are flowering already – glorious coral splashes against the blue sky.

I do like this time of year.

Benn Meadhon

Neville, Hayley and Damien van Lelyveld observed wildlife on Iain Sinclair’s property: Benn Meadhon over the weekends of 12th-13th and 19th-20 July

The weekend of the 12th had day time temperatures of 21°C with a night temp of -4°C on the Saturday night and wind speeds of around 5km/hr. the weekend of the 19th had similar weather conditions with day temps. Of 18°C and night temps of 0°C with wind speeds of approximately 45km/hr.

Oribi During both visits the Oribi were seen. On the weekend of the 12^th 5 were seen and on the weekend of the 19^th on the Saturday morning all 8 were seen just after sunrise.

Bush Buck During the weekend of the 12^th no bush buck was seen however on the weekend of the 19^th 4 were sighted by the bottom carrot fields near the Dargle River 2 does and 2 Rams. There was a distinct absence of Bush buck by the cross road but this is probably due to the felling of the Grahame forest next to your forest in which the bush buck used to live. The logging activity would also have a large effect on the bush buck that used to live in this area. We did investigate the open area in your new forest above the shed and there was evidence of recent activity in the form of sleeping areas that were visible, however no actual bush buck were seen. There was also evidence in the form of reasonably fresh bush buck scat in this area. There is also a lot of bush buck scat down near the bottom of the bottom carrot fields near the Dargle River. This is however expected due to the fairly regular sightings of Bushbuck in this area.

Reedbuck During the weekend of the 12^th we saw 27 Reedbuck while during the weekend of the 19^th we saw and counted 33 Reedbuck. There are a lot of very young Reedbuck and there appears to have been a breeding explosion between the Reedbuck most of the youngsters are of a similar age and all appear to be healthy and all the Reedbuck in general seem to be a lot more relaxed than previously noticed during our last few visits since the poaching episode. There has been a marked difference in their behaviour and they have seemed to have once again started to tame down and particular during the weekend of the 19^th we were able to get quite close to many of them to observe them with out and undue stress caused. They would acknowledge our presence by lifting the head from grazing and then just continue to graze again. This was very pleasing to see since for the last few months we have not been able to get within a hundred metres of them before they would run for cover. Based on the comparisons of the counts made on the weekend of the 12^th compared to the counts done on the weekend of 19^th I would say the count of 27 to 30 reedbuck would be fairly accurate. Many of the original resident families like the ones near the cross roads and the ones that live in the vlei by the maize paddocks are still there. It was also pleasing to see how much the little one from the family that lives by the cross roads has grown up into quite a good looking young ram. Many of the Reedbuck does appear to be pregnant.

Grey duiker On the weekend of the 12^th we saw 17 grey duiker however during the weekend of the 19^th we only saw 5. We did however concentrate on a different area of the farm during the weekend of the 19^th. Nearly every female duiker seen was pregnant, This is great news.

Marsh Mongoose During the visit of the 12^th a single well fed marsh mongoose was seen by the “Y” junction. During previous visits we have only seen his tracks so it was quite a treat to actually see it during this visit. It was in a very good condition.

Bush pigs Once again there were no signs of any Bush pigs or bush pig activity anywhere on the farm.

Porcupine No porcupines were seen however there is a lot evidence of porcupine activity.

Jackals We did not see any jackals during either weekend however there is a lot of evidence of Jackal activity on the farm. During both Saturday nights there was a lot of Jackals calling. A lot of Jackal tracks are very evident all over the farm. There are still a lot of jackals following duikers, the fact that most of the female duiker that can be see appear to be pregnant. This explains why the jackals are following them.

Antbear During the weekend of the 12^th we spent a lot of time walking the back Jackal paddock and where surprised to come across an ant bear hole near the boundary where the jackal paddock meets Hanbury’s maize paddock. He has also been very active according to the tracks in the area. This was an amazing find.

Blue Crane Several blue cranes were seen during both weekends.

Spurwing Geese The Spurwing geese presence on the farm has increased dramatically over the last few months to the point that during both weekend we saw a flock of about 10 birds. They seem to be roosting on the old maize paddocks.

Egyptian Geese

The Egyptian geese population on the farm has also increased over last few months which were also very pleasing. Several flocks of several geese can be seen flying around almost all day

Herons Several Herons were seen all over the farm during this weekend.

Guinea Fowl It is pleasing that the guinea fowl population has increased dramatically over the last few months. During both weekends we saw a flock of some 50 birds. This is the most we have seen in many years.

Francolin During the visit of 2th several Natal and Red Necked francolins were seen. On the 20^th just as we were leaving through the Umgeni gate we had the privilege of watching a natal francolin mother with her 6 little chicks behind her cross the main tar road. The chicks were no more than about 2 inches high. This probably a once in a life time sighting. The good news however is that they are successfully breeding. Their numbers on the farm have increased over the last few years. The sighting of the Red Necked francolins was the first that we have observed on the farm.

Pigeons Although there are some pigeon around in the form of Rameron and doves there is not as much as what would be expected. Most of the pigeon are small juveniles with a distinct absence of the larger adults. This is a little concerning; however from a slightly different point of view at least they do seem to be breeding. There does not seem to be a major lack of food around for them so one can only assume that maybe te farm is being used as a breeding ground for them rather than a feeding area which must be somewhere else I the near facinity.

Owls A few owls where seen during both visits however we could not identify them accurately as they flew up before they could be identified accurately.

Once again several jackal buzzards and crown eagles were seen and an overall increase in raptors was seen. A large population of swallows were seen almost everywhere on the farm.

This is an old porcupine hole that is now been used by butterflies. We noticed this hole in May when we were there but didn’t have a camera with us. They are actually breeding in this hole and living in it like a cave. They were very dark blue and black in colour. Very interesting. (Note from Nikki: I have seen this phenomenon on Old Kilgobbin before – I think they are Gaudy Commodore butterflies – spectacular to watch)

 Ashley Crookes – Copperleigh Farm

The fire breaks in Dargle (as well as the ones that got away) have turned quite a bit of the valley an ugly black. But, finally we are starting to see new life appearing and some wonderful colours in amongst the ashes of the old.

Sandra and Pat Merrick – Albury Farm

On a cold overcast day, Pat said there were 5 crowned cranes, 2 adults with 3 youngsters, on lower part of farm.  I grabbed my camera and off we went trying to find them.  They saw us coming and flew off.  For an hour we kept following them and eventually we decided to walk so as not to disturb them, but again before I could take a nice shot of them on the ground they flew off.  Just managed a few pics of them flying.

Pat saw a starred robin. I decided to try photographing our Black sparrow hawks this month.  They have been using the same nest for 3 years now.  Pat had seen the female catching doves and also an egret, so we presumed there were youngsters to feed.  The task was difficult as the light was not great.  The nest is in a gum plantation. Its in the fork of a eucalyptus tree (gum) about 25 metres high.  Hit pay dirt with my first shot – mom feeding a baby.  The females are rapacious hunters and weigh about 1kg while the males are smaller and rufous coloured.

Dad seemed to spend a lot of time guarding the nest and one afternoon, while sitting beneath the tree, I saw him bending up and down as if feeding the youngster.  Mom would sit in a tree nearby giving her “keeeu” call ending with a short “blip”. A few days later while taking pics, a 2nd youngster suddenly appeared.

Thereafter, they  seemed to enjoy peering at me from above.  On 26th July, while watching the 2 youngsters, now so grown up, first one flew off and then the other followed.

They shrieked with  delight. This was the first time I had seen them fly, so not sure how old they would be.  The nest is very deep, so this is why I never saw them when they were very young.  Not sure when they start hunting for themselves.  Will keep watching them to see what happens.

Comment from Dr Ian Little of EWT: Just a quick clarification on Pat and Sandra Merrick’s wonderful sightings. With the Black Sparrowhawks. The Male is not rufous coloured, they were in fact looking at one of the juveniles, the male is the same colour as the female but smaller. He delivers food to the female to take to the nest and hence is not often seen at the nest.

Pat saw reedbuck mating and one morning 2 male oribi running flat out down the hill in a chase.

I managed to get a few photos of the male reedbuck showing a lot of interest in a female, with her youngster standing close by, watching the action.

The reedbuck are now feeding off the green burn.  One evening there was our magnificent male with 2 females and 2 youngsters, and another day, captured 7 in a pasture at sunset.

Lots of duiker (male) around,  grazing during the day as well. Ian Little, EWT:  I would like appeal to all conservancy members who have Oribi on their properties to submit their survey forms in September, the form can be found at https://www.ewt.org.za/TGSP/oribi.html Or by request from jibam@ewt.org.za

Early one morning saw a gymnogene jumping up and down in the long grass.  He was stamping his prey but could not see what it was.

Broad leafed Coral tree before the frost arrived

Some lovely sunsets this month with all the smoke from burns.

Our redthroated wryneck is still living in the hollow fence pole. Black headed Oriel

Our pair of sugar gurneys just love the bottle brush tree.  A few days ago while I was gardening, about 20 white eyes arrived in same tree. The gurneys did not like that and chased them away.  They sing all day long.  Lesser double-collared sunbird.

One evening in the middle of July, while my grandsons were here, the owls starting making a big commotion on the roof.  Went on for an hour.  We have not heard or seen them since, so I guess they were having a farewell party!  I can now start cleaning the walls of our house!  A pair of orange throated longclaws appear each morning.

Still a few sunbirds, chats, robins, olive thrush.  The rock pigeons are nesting once again in the chimney. Long crested eagle and jackal buzzard still around.  Heard the fish eagle.  A martial eagle flew over the house one morning.  I have a number of flowering boxes on my verandah, and this moth took advantage, feeding off the alyssum which is sweet smelling and seems to attract them.

Remember to check the Dargle Facebook page for local news: https://www.facebook.com/dargle.kzn

Dargle Wildlife Sightings – June 2014

Simon Hayes – Hambledon

A fish eagle has been visiting our dam lately, trying rather unsuccessfully to catch a fish.

Maybe the otter in the dam puts him off!

Sandra and Pat Merrick – Albury

We have had sleepless nights this past month with our 3 barn owlets learning to fly.

They have been flying onto our verandah, onto our window sills, causing the alarm to go off as much as 5 times a night. After the alarm went off one night and we saw the owl on the window sill, we also saw a natal red rock rabbit in the garden hopping around. Just may be the one that lived in my formal garden for 4 months as a baby and vanished in March. Things have quietened down this past week, so it looks like the owlets are now hunting on their own. There is still an adult barn owl in the chimney which the other 2 adults keep chasing.

The hamerkop came into the garden again on an overcast day.

We have dozens of sunbirds and most of them have lost their summer colours, so have found it difficult to identify. Greater collared sunbird

Female malachite sunbird

Also many common stonechats and buff streaked chats.  Common Stonechat

Some Female African Stonechats (saxicola torquatus) – Thanks to Hugh Bulcock for identifying them as well as the Yellow-throated Petronia.

Hundreds of seed eaters on the lawn every day. Up to 16 sacred ibis on dam every day and the odd spoonbill. Gurney sugarbird

At the beginning of june our 2 adult blue crane arrived at the dam one afternoon and mournfully cried for about ten minutes and then flew off. A few hours later one blue crane arrived and he too also gave a few mournful cries and flew off. I can only guess that mom and dad were saying a sad farewell to their baby as I have not seen them since. I miss them but they will be back next season, I am sure. Cape White-eye

A redthroated wryneck living in corner post in our garden. A pair of shelduck, egyptian geese, spurwing geese, plovers. Black crested eagle, jackal buzzard. Heard the cry of the fish eagle several times during the month. Cape Robin

a Secretary Bird arrived at last for a short while and then flew off

Yellow-throated Petronia (gymnoris superciliaris)

Malachite sunbird in eclipse

Black sunbird – with its tongue out!

Common duiker

One morning saw a Natal red duiker standing in the middle of the road just past Endebeni farm. I stopped the car, went for my camera but it ran back into the bush. I have never seen one here before but I checked out the website and it was definitely a red duiker. Dark auburn in colour, small head and smaller in size than the common duiker.

Lots of reedbuck on the hills and in the long grass around the house. The males have been chasing a female for a couple of weeks now. They came to blows one morning. Walked towards each other, face to face, eyeball to eyeball and then the fight began. Locked horns, pushing backwards and forwards.

One of them went down and I wondered what would happen next but he got up, they looked at each other and calmly walked off.

We had fun with the trail camera. Captured as many as 100 photos in 2 nights with the trail camera we hired for the month (from the Dargle Conservancy). Well worth the R100. Pat changed the camera position about every 5 days.  Some very interesting photos of the owls with the owlets practising their jumping and flapping skills before learning to fly. They have been flying for the last 2 weeks.

We also saw many jackal in the bush. One running up the burn at 7am one morning.

male bush buck,

porcupine

and lastly a beautiful caracal which is very special.

Many male and female reedbuck on our road to the house. Strangely no images of bush pig or female bush buck were captured.

Robin Barnsley – Sanctuary

Saw a Genet up the tree late one night when I arrived home. Also saw the one-horned Bushbuck that attacked Jenny Fly a few months ago.

Ashley Crookes – Copperleigh Farm

Have seen the Vervet Monkey’s on the corner of our farm near Barret’s Country house on quite a few occasions. This morning I saw a Reedbuck take off up the hill when putting out salt lick for our cows.

Dieter Setz – Wakecroft

At present this is the only colour, even with frost on it, along the riverbed

Bugweed (Solanum mauritianum) or what is left of it after strong frost

Don’t know the name of this weed. It flowers, seeds and is frost resistant (all in one) and no animal eats it. Can anybody out there shed some light on it?

Here is the most hated flower by hikers and people walking in the veld – Blackjacks!

These tiny little flowers are flowering now and have a very pleasant sweet scent

Strawflowers are hanging in as well

The frost got hold of these wild melons as well.

Images from the Trail Camera:  a Small Antelope

Eland

Aardvark

Porcupine and Jackal

Common Male Duiker

Nikki Brighton

I spent most of the month beside the seaside, so have nothing interesting to report for Dargle. If you are interested, you can see what I saw at the beach here: https://plantabundance.wordpress.com/2014/07/03/east-coast-abundance-figs-flowers-and-footprints/

Keep an eye on the Dargle Facebook page for local news. Video footage of the Barn Owls captured at the Merrick’s property will be posted soon. https://www.facebook.com/dargle.kzn