Diario de bluehillescape

The last 10 days has been an epic photo snapping festival, with plants and insects distracting me from birds as per usual. The trip started with 3 nights in the Tankwa, which was flowering prolifically. Then over to the Overberg, with its hidden gems. Still to upload: a hot foot hike around the Klipspringer trail of Potberg, de Hoop, where the Cape Vultures put on their best display.

Each year for the past several years we lay what must be one of the longest Easter egg hunt trails in the WC! I get up early in the morning and hike the Sugarbird Valley trail, 'hiding' eggs along the way. Then, our family hikes the trail, providing much entertainment for Charlie and Eli, and providing me with an opportunity to document biodiversity. This is usually a botanically quiet time of year, but it is a good warm up for the City challenge which takes place at the end of the month. However, the Protea repens were putting on a a lovely display, with signs of some of the other protea species thinking about a good winter showing too. All in all, 24 eggs were found, and 60 records uploaded to iNat from the day (but none included an Easter bunny).

So most of this year has been documenting Blue Hill Nature Reserve during lockdown, with a trip to the Overberg to assist Sanjo Rose with her MSc on Agulhas Long-billed Lark in August. Then I heard the flowers were 'best ever' on the West Coast, so decided to drop everything and head that way for a couple of weeks. So the next roll of photos will be associated with that journey. I was camped on some private farms between Calvinia and Niuewoudtville, birding, ringing and planting. Is planting a word? It was epic, but given I'm not a botanist, also very challenging.

I spent February in and around the Enonkishu Conservancy, Mara region, Kenya. We set up an iNaturalist project so that interested people can follow wildlife of that area. Enonkishu, with their by-line of 'Last Line of Defence' is the northernmost of the Mara conservancies, backing onto agricultural land, and with cattle and wildlife the management focus. Due to spectacular rains, grass was high, and wildlife in all its forms was prolific.