5 November 2022

I visit these wetlands at least once a month, it’s my favourite birding spot because there is always an abundance of birds and it’s the perfect setting to hone your photography skills, so volunteering to lead the walk in the absence of Mike O’Donoghue was an absolute pleasure for me with the help of Nols Turner and Elton-John Bartlett.

The walk was scheduled to depart from the security parking area at 6am and when I arrived at around 5:50am, most of the participants had already arrived, and some had made their way to the wetlands already.

We proceed to the picnic area to park the vehicles and after a brief introduction, welcoming of new members namely Andrew Mather, Bill and Ann Braine, Frances Fenner and Tayla Van Rees, we split up into two groups, one lead by Nols and the second lead by Elton-John.

The weather was perfect with a slight breeze and clear skies, but the water level of the wetlands is still very high which unfortunately detracts from the presence of a big variety of waders.

Both groups managed to record 83 species, the specials for the day were.

• Greater Painted-Snipe
• Whiskered Terns
• Ruddy Turnstone
• African Black Duck
• Southern Brown Throated Weaver

Some other birds seen:

Written by Ronnie Herr