Gymnogene

Over the years we've had some special visitors to our garden, and this afternoon it continued as we had the  pleasure of seeing a Gymnogene or African Harrier Hawk flying over before settling in to the neighbours oak tree. The hawk sat there for quite a while, even ignoring the protestations of many songbirds which tried to get it to move on, before taking off to join another hawk in flight.

Karma Chameleon

Until two days ago I had only ever seen one chameleon in the wild, or at least in my garden, then suddenly today I came across another little guy (maybe it's the same one) and decided to get some better shots of him.

This is a Cape Dwarf Chameleon indigenous only to the Western Cape and close to Table Mountain, though they have been found as far out as Agulhas.

Personally I'm thrilled to have this lttle guy in my garden and would love to see him again sometime.

Antlions

Some of you have been on safari and will have enjoyed looking at the Big 5, they are a truly spectacular group of animals.

What you may not know though, is that there is also a Little 5 of some equally amazing animals.

We have the Antlion or Lion Ant in our garden and as the drought intensifies so does their hunting activity.

Spotted Dikkop

Felt really pleased to spot a pair of Spotted Dikkop on the vacant plot immediately behind our house. It looks like they might be nesting there which is pretty cool.

These are quite common in the South Africa but it's the first time I've seen them so close to home.

I'm guessing a bit of derelict ground like this is perfect for it as it seeks out lizards and other small creatures to eat. Especially as the water table is saturated after the floods, which has driven many small creatures up to the surface.

Leopards In The Cape

This is great news!

The Cape Leopard Trust have been doing some sterling work in the Boland area logging details of known leopards, as well as using camera traps and physical traps to monitor the health and distribution of these splendid creatures in the Cape.

What a privilege too to know that some of the routes we mountainbike on we also share with some leopards.

Garden Centre

After a good morning in Macassar I decided to call in on Michael in Chris Nissen on my way home to see how his gate is holding up and just to enjoy being with my mate.

One of the things that never fails to amaze me about our friends there is just how generous they are and this morning I left Michael's feeling like I'd been to a garden centre.

My garden is going to be looking great by next summer!

Blogging From A To Z Challenge - G

Whilst blogging about my passions I seem to have had a few rants so here is a post dedicated to something I despise with a passion. I promise to be more positive for H!

Guinea fowl are the spawn of satan!

If you're one of those weird nut jobs that likes them I pity you.

My loathing of these hideous creatures stems from our time in Zimbabwe. Harry our landlord kept guinea fowl along with chickens and turkeys, each of which had the ability to be annoying. However, the guinea fowl took the prize for winding me up.

Flying Thing

I was fascinated by this bug in the garden this morning and managed to get this half decent snap of it with Paula's point & shoot camera.

I think it might be a hornet but am not too sure. Whatever it is I was surprised to see it out on a cold winter's morning.

Ceroplesis Capensis

We encountered this chap on the beach on Sunday evening (see: Supper On The Beach) and had no idea what it was. After a bit of web research we discovered that it is the Ceroplesis Capensis beetle which is part of the Cerambycidae (longicorn beetles, timber beetles) family of beetles.

He looks quite nasty with the red stripes but I guess that makes for an excellent deterrent.

So there you go, you learn something new everyday!

Cape Eagle Owl

We quite often have an owl sitting on our roof just after sunset so this evening I was able to quietly slip out, set the camera up and get a photo of it.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to focus 100% but still got an OK shot. The shutter was on 10secs at f5.6 and an ISO of 800. The shutter was so long that if you look carefully you can see how he moved his head.

Caracal

Early on Monday morning I was riding with a friend along jeep track on Sir Lowry's Pass when we saw what looked like some kind of strange dog. As we approached slowly the creature stopped and stared at us for a few seconds before sprinting off into the bush. We couldn't believe what we'd just seen, it was a wild Caracal cat with a rabbit in its mouth. He was obviously off for a hearty breakfast.

What an awesome privilege!

Dragonfly

This stunning Dragonfly was on our doorstep this morning. It was obviously on its last legs as each time it tried to fly it landed on its back and struggled onto its feet.

Joel was delighted to see such a stunning visitor.

Penguins At Betty's Bay

As spring settles in and the weather improves we're able to get out and about a bit more which is great. 

Whale Watching & Chillin' Out

We've had a wonderful day whale watching in Hermanus this morning, followed by a casual Birthday party with some friends around the corner followed by our boys toddling off to bed without complaint after a couple of stories from Mummy. Bliss!

Hadeda Ibis

The Hadeda Ibis (Bostrychia hagedash) is a regular over our house and can usually be heard long before they're seen as they make a right racket. However, they are spectacular birds and it's a real privilege to have one stop on your house like this.

To see more visit our PhotoBlog

 

Update On Our Week

The week in summary... It started last Saturday when Dean & Joel went to our 'Launchpad' camp near Grabouw. Dean was the official photographer and Joel was the able assistant! Look out on our PhotoBlog early next week for more photos of that. On Thursday, Dean was again the 'official' photographer, this time for Choices, our pregnancy crisis counseling centre. Dean has done a few bits for them and really enjoys serving this BRILLIANT ministry.

Holiday Photos

We had a lot of fun on holiday and were blessed with an amazing house to stay in for free for the 2 weeks. The break came at a great time for us and the boys really thrived on so much quality family time together. Joel's highlight was the 'orange train' at the railway museum, we're not sure which train he's on about but it made a big impact on him.

 Eli's highlight was probably learning to pull himself up and then cruise the furniture, he also really enjoyed the beach.

Whale Watching

We took a gamble on Saturday and decided to go to Hermanus to see if we could see any whales as the 'official' season is just about on us. Thankfully the weather was great and we did see a couple of whales although they weren't very close to the shore. Joel was excited but we could tell he was a little disappointed that we couldn't get a really clear view of the whales.

Just before lunch it clouded over and the swell was increasing so we decided to go home via the coast road (the same road where Jaguar filmed their ad for the new XK!) and as we were about 15Kms from Gordon's Bay we saw a whale really close to the beach. Hope you enjoy the photos below.

Helderberg Nature Reserve

Dean & Joel went to the Nature Reserve again yesterday, mainly to give Paula & Eli a bit of a break but also to give Joel some special time with Dad. We had some real fun as you can see from the 'Dilemma' video posted below. We're not sure where Joel gets his flirting skills from but they're definitely not from his Dad (probably gets it from his mother!).

Whilst we were feeding the ducks the Cape Weaver Birds were getting quite bold so we put some crumbs on a post a watched them swoop in and take them.

Owl

Paula and I chatted on the internet last night (we've been using voice conferencing for almost 5 years, well before Skype) and Paula was telling me about a diaster involving Joel, a tube of toothpaste and Granddad's carpet, Oh Dear! Unfortunately this was followed up a bit later with poo - nice. It would appear from Joel's behaviour that he's missing Dad and dad is certainly missing Paula & Joel!!!