Attendees: Doug & Angie Butcher, Stan & Val Culley, Mike Fagan, Stanley & Asothie Gengan, David Halle, Andy Ruffle, Irma Smook, Bob & Hazel van Rooyen, Ron & Elaine Whitham, Barry Willis and Sue Hansbury. (16 attendees)
Having being deferred from the previous week, due to weather, the conditions seemed slightly better for today's outing.
Arrival at the tennis courts however, didn't bode well for the day when Andy drove his car straight into a bog and needless to say got stuck. Fortunately, David Halle was able to tow the car out with a little help from some extra ballast in the form of willing members perched on the back of his bakkie.
Drama over, we commenced our walk through the Bushbuck Trail. It was then we learnt that the local pair of African Crowned Eagle and Juvenile had inexplicably disappeared. Was this a sign of the horrendous storm which hit the coast a few days later, or just conicidence?
Birding the forest was not particularly productive, but this did give David a chance to educate the members about the locality and the problems caused by alien invasive plants.
After breakfast, David showed us a new trail which has been laid in the Fredrika Reserve, a patch of coastal forest the other side of the golf course. Once again, not very birdy, but a lovely walk, very reminiscent of Mpenjati's coastal forest walks. We were fortunate to see an unusual species of Scadoxus for our area, Scadoxus membranaceus Dwarf Paintbrush, which was discovered during a thorough botanical survey of the reserve.
Unfortunately, the heavens opened as we returned to the tennis courts, putting an abrupt end to the outing.
It was very nice to see Trogons member David Halle on this outing. Hopefully we will see more of him in the future. Thanks David for your fascinating insights and for towing Andy out of the mud.
Birds recorded: Sombre Greenbul, Square-tailed Drongo, Cape White-eye, Olive Sunbird, Black-collared Barbet, African Paradise-Flycatcher, Yellow-rumped Tinkerbird, Dark-capped Bulbul, Terrestrial Brownbul, Black-bellied Starling, Southern Boubou, Spectacled Weaver, Green-backed Camaroptera, Black-headed Oriole, Burchell's Coucal, Black-backed Puffback, Knysna Turaco, Olive Thrush, Speckled Mousebird, Trumpeter Hornbill, Tambourine Dove, Fork-tailed Drongo, Red-capped Robin-Chat, Natal Spurfowl, Cape Wagtail, Blacksmith Lapwing, Red-winged Starling, Brown Scrub-Robin, Red-eyed Dove, Hamerkop, White Faced Duck, Egyptian Goose, Common Myna. (33 species)
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