19th July 2020 Cecily Salmon lives on the edge of Krantzkloof, the Uve Road side, which is across the gorge from the main entrance. She invited me to join her for a birding walk on Sunday morning (she said walk but it was more like a hike). The Uve Road entrance is still closed so…
Category: Activities
Five days in Zululand.
21 – 25th February 2020 While packing the tent and camping equipment into Charka (our trusty Landrover) on the eve of our sojourn to Zululand, the sky is grey and gloomy while the occasional shower pelts down, I wonder if we are completely crazy! We are heading to Sand Forest Lodge in the morning for four…
Nature Journaling for Birders
Thursday 12th March 2020 On Thursday 20th March 2020, seven of us gathered at Durban Botanic Gardens. It is a gem of a public urban green space, with reliable birding from comfortable benches especially by the lake. Also, there is excellent coffee at the kiosk! Thanks to the generosity of the Durban Botanic Gardens Curator’s Office, we…
A stroll through Jubilee Park
Wednesday 26 February 2020 The outing was supposed to be held the week before but had to be re-scheduled due to rain. Just as well, as we were greeted by a glorious, sunny, windless morning. But maybe a little too hot for the birds? The main attraction of the park is the presence of Magpie Mannikins…
KwaXimba Conservancy, Umgeni Valley
Sunday 16 February 2020 This year’s visit was our 5th BLPN outing to the KwaXimba conservancy and with 16 birders joining me is also the largest group we’ve had down in the Umgeni Valley. It was a bright sunny day which progressively got hotter and hotter – in fact too hot for some so we turned…
Mbozambo Wetlands at Sappi Stanger
9th February 2020 Trip report by Nicolette & Ticky Forbes (all photographs Nicolette Forbes) An Early Start A total of 17 people, some of whom managed to make the very early start by meeting at the Sappi Stanger Mill carpark around 05h15, enjoyed a really wonderful morning at the Mbozambo Wetlands and Sappi Hide and…
Summer 2020 CWAC (Waterbird Count)
By Steve Davis with photos by Anneli Mynhardt 26 January was earmarked for the summer waterbird count at the Umgeni estuary and Durban Natural Heritage Site at Bayhead, counts which have been done since 1999. Thanks to extensive advertising and some cajoling, there was a good turnout at the Umgeni Bird Park, with some new…
Amanzimtoti Estuary & Beach bash
25 January 2020 Report by Steve Davis with photos by Anneli Mynhardt There was a reasonable turnout for the talk that Steve Davis gave to the Sapphire Coast birding group on 23 January at the Amanzimtoti Sports Club. However, there was a very good turnout for the outing early on Saturday morning. With the enthusiastic…
Umbogavango Nature Reserve.
Saturday, 3rd January 2020 This reserve has traditionally become the choice of reserve for our first Saturday outing of the year, and this year was no exception. We had a large turnout of members, all keen to open their year lists with some good sightings. Fortunately, we had enough leaders to split the group into…