Neil Gray's birds and other wildlife
Atlasville, 20 Jan 2012 We arrived at Ngwenya on Friday, 13th January (is this an ill omen?) to take up our annual timeshare week knowing that a tropical cyclone out in the Indian Ocean would have an impact on our weather in the coming days, but there was still uncertainty as to what extent this …
Atlasville, 11 Jan 2012 The Baillon’s Crake is still the subject of ongoing birding chatter on the internet. It was relocated and photographed again yesterday. So, I set off again this morning to try my luck for a second time, taking along a birding friend with me. We arrived at the same spot that I …
Atlasville, 09 Jan 2012 News broke yesterday evening of the appearance of a rare migrant at Marievale, a Baillon’s Crake. There had been some heavy, overnight rain, and conditions were still very overcast. Nevertheless, this morning, armed with the GPS co-ordinates supplied, I headed for Marievale. I knew that it would be like looking for …
Atlasville, 12 Dec 2011 I spent the day yesterday birding in the Wakkerstroom district. A dawn departure saw me drive down to Wakkerstroom, where I completed a circuit around the Wakkerstroom and Dirkiesdorp area on gravel roads of around 110km, then returned home, arriving after dark. The total bird species for the day was 76. …
Atlasville, 07 Dec 2011 I paid another visit to Marievale today, arriving at 07:00. I headed for the north end of the reserve and spent just over 4 hours working my way back to the southern end of the reserve, finishing with a species count of 70 – probably about right for the time of …
Atlasville, 24 Nov 2011 I finished off our trip to the UK with a final day visit to the London Wetland Centre. My photography on this, my 5th visit to the Wetland Centre, was largely restricted to the captive species, although I did manage shots of the resident Long-tailed Tit, Eurasian Wigeon and Eurasian Coot, …
Atlasville, 24 Nov 2011 My wife and I are just back from a 2-week trip visiting family in the UK. As always, I managed to set aside some time for birding while in London, with visits to both RSPB Minsmere near Saxmundham in Suffolk and RSPB Dungeness near Lydd in Kent. While visiting my father in …
Atlasville, 05 Nov 2011 Yesterday my wife and I made a day trip to the Pilanesberg National Park, a drive of just over 200 km and about 2½ hours. We entered the park at the KwaMaritane Gate on the south-eastern edge of the park and completed an anti-clockwise circuit of the park of some …
Atlasville, 19 Oct 2011 The Zambian project has come to an end and with only a few very short jobs in the coming months (or so I thought) I have a lot of time on my hands before the next long-term project starts, hopefully in March, so I decided to get in as much birding …
Atlasville, 04 Oct 2011 I know I have been very busy with various work projects yet still can’t believe that it has been over 2 years since my last visit to Marievale, which I regard as my ‘home patch’ when it comes to birding. I left home at sunrise today, arriving at Marievale at 06:30. …
