Neil Gray's birds and other wildlife
Atlasville, 17 Jun 2007 I arrived at Marievale this morning to find that some 60-70% of all the grassland had been burnt to a crisp in a massive veld fire. Even some stands of reeds were just charred stumps at the water’s edge. This is quite early in the winter for this to happen, …
Atlasville, 16 Jun 2007 Got back yesterday from a weekend in Hazyview followed by four nights at Mopani Camp in the Kruger Park, with a trip list of 189, not too shabby for mid-winter. The Hazyview weekend, when we were based in a riverside chalet at Hazyview Cabanas, turned up a few unexpected “goodies”, …
Atlasville, 29 May 2007 Paid 2 very quick visits to the exploration site in the Hotazel area in the past month. First visit was on 30th April, arriving 4pm and leaving the following morning. I timed my departure very well, driving past the main waterhole at 09:45 as +/-40 Burchell’s Sandgrouse flew in for …
Atlasville, 06 May 2007 I went with a fellow birder to Barberspan Nature Reserve in North West province yesterday to hunt for the vagrant Wilson’s Phalarope that had been photographed there a few days ago. We managed to locate a possible candidate, which flew off before we’d really got a good look at it. …
Atlasville, 24 Mar 2007 We are just back from another few days at Ngwenya Lodge with our daughter, new son-in-law, our younger son and his girlfriend, and some of their South African friends. I was not able (nor allowed) to do any birding at Ngwenya and was not able to record our day trips into …
Atlasville, 12 Mar 2007 I returned last Friday from a few days at Ngwenya Lodge with my eldest son who is visiting from the UK with his girlfriend to attend his sister’s wedding. They will be travelling back to the UK straight after the wedding, so wanted to fit in a trip to the Kruger …
Atlasville, 21 Feb 2007 With the South African birding grapevine abuzz with sightings over the past few days of a Red Phalarope at the Ruighoek Dam in the Pilanesberg National Park, I decided to go and see if I could add this lifer to my list. There is a magnificent hide overlooking this dam, …
Atlasville, 17 Feb 2007 Why do I keep going back to Marievale? Well, it’s an ever-changing environment. After my last two very disappointing visits with hardly a bird to be found, yesterday morning I sat for 3 hours in Hadeda Hide spell-bound by the sheer numbers of both birds and species, and the frenetic …
Atlasville, 02 Feb 2007 I spent a very rewarding day yesterday birding in the Wakkerstroom. Having dipped on the big three specials on my previous visit two years ago, I went again to try my luck with the three endemics, Botha’s Lark, Rudd’s Lark and Yellow-breasted Pipit. This time, however, I decided to enlist the …
Atlasville, 26 Jan 2007 Paid a visit today to the Suikerbosrand Nature Reserve. Although fairly close to home, some 40 km (45 mins) by road, I had not previously been here. Suikerbosrand straddles the Suikerbosrand hills and the vegetation is typical of such rocky Highveld areas, dominated by the Common Protea (Protea afra afra), …
