We spent the weekend in Stanford for a family weekend with Margaret's family this weekend. Basing ourselves at Reiersvlei Farm (www.reiersvlei.co.za) just a short distance outside of Stanford, it was conveniently situated to be able to head out into the field very close by to the farm and spend a bit of time chasing down some wildlife whilst not spending too much time away from the family either. The accommodation is in a large house with 4 en-suite bedrooms and all the necessary modcons (e.g. flat screen TV, dishwasher, etc.) and has a large central living area which opens out onto a patio and large lawned area with a swimming pool. Just beyond the lawns are reedbeds flanking the Klein River and so, even from a relaxed deck chair on the patio, one can watch the comings and goings of birds moving along the river. We arrived late on Friday afternoon and settled down for some family time with our only distractions being the resident Barn Owls that live in the chimney and distant calling Fiery-necked Nightjars.
Having a fairly relaxed start to Saturday morning, it was evident that Spring was definitely in the air - there were good numbers of hirundines around comprised mostly of Greater Striped and Pearl-breasted Swallows whilst there were also several Rock Martins that perched on the thatch roof of the house. It also gave us the opportunity to fool around a bit with the cameras whilst we hung around the accommodation and try and find various arbitrary things to photograph.
Eventually, the family decided that they would all head off to Stanford for a little while, so it gave us the opportunity to get out and do a bit of birding specifically trying to target a few species for our challenge. Although there weren't really a huge number of species that we still needed to see, there were quite a few that we still needed photos of. We decided to make our way to Stanford as well, but just slowly work our way along the road stopping every now and again for photography and also filling in atlas cards for SABAP2 as well. The trip through to Stanford certainly added a few new challenge photos like Fork-tailed Drongo, Bar-throated Apalis, Speckled Mousebird and even a very distant African Goshawk (so distant in fact that you are going to have to take our word for it that it is an African Goshawk - let's just hope we can get a better shot sometime later during the challenge!!). We were also lucky to have an Egyptian Mongoose (aka Large Grey Mongoose) cross the road in front of us and were able to whack off a couple of really bad pics of it.
Arriving in Stanford, we decided to check out one of the local wetlands first before going to have a late breakfast. Despite a huge amount of human disturbance in the area, there were still some birds around and the wetland even had a couple of White-backed Ducks although we could get nowhere near them. The highlight here was a very young Common Moorhen that walked out of cover right in front of us and allowed us to get a few shots of it - this chick could not have been more than just a few weeks old. It was then off to a local restaurant for a very good omelette and a few cups of coffee whilst a large flowering exotic tree in the garden attracted a few Red-winged Starlings, another species which we managed to photograph here for the first time during the challenge.
After finishing up at the restaurant, we headed back out on the road to Reiersvlei and spent the next few hours making intermittent stops at various sites along the way trying to pick up a few more species. By now, it was already quite warm and the sun was high in the sky, so the light for photography was not great, but we still managed to photograph a few species for the challenge including Brimstone Canary, Southern Double-collared Sunbird (can't believe we hadn't gotten a photo of this species up until now!) and Klaas's Cuckoo. Eventually, we headed back to the accommodation to spend some time with the family.
In the late afternoon when things started cooling down a bit, we decided to do a bit of scratching around on the farm turning over a few rocks and logs to see what we could find. Our 5 year old niece was particularly interested in this and stuck by our side the whole way making sure she found the biggest possible rocks and logs that needed to be turned over! And any excuse about it being too heavy to move was just not acceptable to her - it had to be turned for her to see what was underneath it! She also took great interest in the few things we were able to find - a fair number of scorpions, a couple of Ocellated Thick-toed Geckos, only one snake in the form of a small Common Slugeater as well as only one frog, a Flat Caco.
Sunday morning was time for another family breakfast, but while it was being prepared, the opportunity was taken to wander around the farm a bit again to see what else could be found. Most of the same species as yesterday were found, with just a few new ones being added to the atlas card e.g. Caspian Tern, Zitting Cisticola, etc. There were also some opportunities for photos, but again, nothing earth-shattering...
It was eventually time to pack up and, after throwing everything in the car, we took the opportunity to have one more drive along the approach road to the farm in the hope that we might find a few more things. Unfortunately, it was already a little too warm and bright, so we were not terribly successful, we did find some Blue Cranes fairly close to the road and also finally managed to get a photo of a Sombre Greenbul for the challenge.
By lunch time, we were on the road heading home and managed to squeeze in a quick stop in Hermanus amongst the masses of people there to have a look at the Southern Right Whales in Walker Bay. Two animals were fairly close in to shore and gave reasonable views as they wallowed in the water doing very good impressions of floating logs. Other than that, we couldn't wait to get out of the crowds and were soon in the car again making our way home after another great weekend with a few new challenge species to boot.
