We have visitors!

 Bernt & Rufie arrived on 1st October. They will be with us for the next few weeks. Bernt is an old friend & colleague of Delana's, they have worked on several environmental projects together & he visited us last year in Sabie Park. He enjoyed the trip so much, that he came back for more! 

Bernt, Rufie & Delana

We spent the evening chatting & generally catching up.

Southern Right Whale

Plenty of them on show opposite our house.

Bernt, in his position!

I conducted an early morning sea watch on 2nd. It was yet again very quiet, with only 1 White-chinned Petrel & 1 Giant Petrel sp. seen. The first Barn Swallows were noted. When one thinks where we actually are here, (at the southern tip of Africa), they are pretty early. 

Klein Paradise

This dam normally holds quite a few waterbirds.

However, today the water levels were too high.

Would be birders!

Ruthie & Bernt

African Spoonbill

Yellow Bishop

We then did some birding around the nearby farm of Klein Paradise. Even though it is only 2kms from Pearly it has some different habitats & can be good for waterbirds. However, the dam level was very high & little of note was recorded. It was a very enjoyable mornings outing though. 

Plenty of plants sprouting on the bare earth.

We think that this is a King Protea.

In the afternoon we drove up to the Agulhas National Park. It was mainly to assess the damage from recent fires. Delana & myself have never seen it so open before. Flowers were sprouting again. It was a nice couple of hours walking & driving around.

Carol: never forgotten.

Justin & Nicci in the UK.

Today would have been my late wife Carol's birthday. Myself & the girls always raise a glass or two in her memory. 

Southern Right Whale.

Rock Hyrax

Seen opposite the cafe.

The next day we all went for breakfast at Cafe on the Rocks at De Kelders. There were several Southern Right Whales in the bay, but all a little too far out for decent shots. A few African Black Swifts were zooming around, but I failed to obtain any photos. 

Niklas with his Mum & Dad.

Delana preparing food.

On the 4th October Bernt & Rufie drove to Cape Town to pick up their son Nicholas who had just flown in from Sweden & he will be with us for the next few weeks. 

The next day I conducted a sea watch. The highlight being 2 African Penguins, but they were two far out for photos.

Distant Grey Rhebok

Common in this area.

 They have adapted to farmland

Common Ostrich

Blue Crane

The southern most tip of Africa:

 looking into nowhere!

It really is a beautiful stretch of coastline.

On the 6th October we all drove the back roads to Cape Agulhas, the southern most tip of Africa. We were very lucky with the weather & everyone enjoyed the day out.

We packed on 7th & set out on our three day drive north on the 8th October. Our visitors enjoyed four days on their own around Cape Town & met up with us again in Skukuza for the next leg of their journey.

Pearly Beach

 We left Pretoria early morning on 14th September for the long drive to New Holme Farm near Hanover. This is a great place to stay & convenient, as it is approximately half way between Pretoria & Pearly Beach. After a pleasant evening, we left at dawn with Eastern Clapper Larks calling from the veld  We had heavy rain for the first few hours, but it cleared, once we got over the mountains & we arrived at Pearly Beach early evening.

Part of a huge feeding flock of Cape Cormorants.

The coastline opposite our house.

We spent the next few days in & around the house, only going for short walks along the coast. It is spring here & some species of flowers are blooming. Astonishingly over 1,300 species of plants are found in & around Pearly! 

Southern Right Whale

Mother & calf.

Sea watching was very poor, with only a couple of Giant Petrel sp. noted. It seems all the winter visitors have moved on & the summer visitors have not yet arrived. There are plenty of Southern Right Whales around though.

Southern Rock Martin sheltering from the wind 

on the side of the house.

Delana & myself with our gold medals for 

photographing over 500 species of birds

 in SA within a year.

The good news is that with every day I am feeling a little better & can walk a little bit further, albeit very slowly! The bad news is that my third cycle of chemo starts on 23rd!

On the 21st September Jacqui, Stavros & Kyla came around for dinner & a good time was had by all. 

My third cycle of chemotherapy went well on 23rd September. Oncologist says my liver is getting healthier & the chemo appears to be working. 

Clare at our little bar!

Plenty of whales in the bay.

Arctic Skua

Clare arrived from the UAE for a short four night stay. Great to see her again. It has been a while! An evening sea watch on 24th produced: 84 Gannet; 2 Giant Petrel sp.; 151 Arctic Skua (roosting on the sea) & 40 Common Tern. The evening was spent with Clare catching up on all the family news.

An amazing display of local fynbos.

Clare & Delana

It was cold!

All the plants are from the Cape Floral Kingdom.

The next day we drove to Stanford to visit the Flower Festival. For the third year running they won the gold medal at the Chelsea Flower Show in London. It really was an amazing display & an enjoyable day out. 

Northern Giant Petrel

Common Terns

On 26th September did a morning sea watch: 1 Northern Giant Petrel & 2 Giant Petrel sp. In the early afternoon 

Little Egret

White-fronted Plover.

Delana, Clare & myself did a little walk along the beach without seeing much, although several Southern Right Whales were offshore.

The 27th was rugby day! We went to the Whale Brewery to watch the match.

Till the next time!

It was time to say goodbye to Clare after a very brief visit on 28th September. We had lunch in Hermanus before putting her on the shuttle to the airport. It had been great to see her again but all too brief. 

One can see here both the internal teleconverter

 built into the lens & the external teleconverter

which is attached between the camera body

 & the lens.

Did an early morning sea watch from the verandah on 29th, but nothing of consequence seen. Taking photographs of sea birds from here is a little problematic, as there is a road & coastal fynbos between me & the birds, which means the distance is great. So I had a think! What would happen if I stacked two 1.4 teleconverters together to give me more reach? I attached one 1.4 teleconverter to my Canon D90 body & then attached my EF 200-400mm lens which already has a built in 1.4 teleconverter & it fitted together! Obviously one looses light when one does this, but you can increase the ISO on modern cameras to compensate for the loss of light. This set up gives me a 15x magnification so I will try it out this evening to see if I can get any decent photos. The problem will be the sharpness of the photos. 

The evening sea watch was a bit of a non-event. Raging gales, but no birds at all! So I still don't know if this set up actually works. 

Sandwich Tern, taken at 1km out using two

  stacked converters.

Common Terns flying to roost at dusk. 

Using the two 1.4 stacked converters your photos are never going to be crisp & razor sharp. However, one may obtain an ID photo of that major rarity on the horizon! I was encouraged by my little experiment. 

Cape Sugarbird: the odd bird is

 around the village, but most are still

 in the hills.

The last day of the month saw me sat on the verandah sea watching; but yet again no birds! Lots of Southern Right Whales in the bay, but none were breaching for photos.

I am feeling pretty good at the moment. I still get tired, but I can walk & lead a relatively normal life. I have been constantly ill for a long time & it is great to be more or less back to normal. Long may it continue.